It might not last long but the Oilers woke up this morning in a Playoff spot and it’s the best feeling many fans have felt (in season) for a long while.
We all know that the Playoffs are a long way away. They haven’t even reached the halfway mark of the season. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that the Oilers are relevant again. Even if they ultimately miss the Playoffs, this team is playing meaningful games and barring total collapse will be doing so into the new year.
The Pacific division is absurdly even this season.
Only 3 points separate 2nd from 7th.
Arizona, Edmonton, and Vancouver are tied with 30 points.
Arizona, Edmonton, and San Jose are all tied with 14 Wins.
Both Edmonton and Calgary are riding Winning Streaks of 5 games or more.
Arizona, Calgary, and Edmonton are 11, 12, and 13th in the NHL for Goals For per 60 minutes (2.69, 2.61, 2.61)
There should be a lot of back and forth movement in the standings for the foreseeable future, or until someone separates themselves from the pack. It’s going to make all of the Divisional games incredibly interesting to watch.
It’s been a long time since the standings were something the Oilers were trying to climb. The Oilers have been terrible for too long. It’s about time that this core group gets to experience the feeling of battling for the playoffs. Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle have put a lot of time in with very little chance to experience this. It’s almost too depressing to think about.
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One thing I want to talk about is that OT goal. There is absolutely no reason the Bruins should have put Ferraro out against RNH to start OT. I cant help but think the Oilers were gift-wrapped the game by a bone-headed coaching decision. The Bruins dominated periods 2 and 3 quite heavily and maybe that lulled the Bruins to sleep for OT. There is no excuse for putting the 4th line center AT HOME out against Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
The only thing I can think is that Claude Julien listens to too much Leaf’s Lunch on his radio. Because only a fool or Jeff O’Neill would have taken the former 1st Overall pick that lightly. Anyway, thanks for the points, Claude.
The Oilers won the puck off the hop and never gave it back. Eberle, RNH, and Sekera put on a 3v3 clinic on the very first shift of OT. Incredible.
LINEUP
Talbot played spectacularly last night but there is no way the Oilers should play a goalie on back to back nights. Klinkhammer has a chance to play tonight. I’m tentatively putting him in for Gazdic. Nilsson starts.
Hall-Draisaitl-Purcell Khaira-RNH-Eberle Korpikoski-Letestu-Hendricks Klinkhammer-Lander-Pakarinen
Nurse-Sekera Nikitin-Schultz Davidson-Gryba
Nilsson
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Tighten Up. The Oilers were lucky to escape with a Win in Boston considering they were outshot by a 2:1 margin. Talbot had to be incredible and a terrible choice by the Bruins in OT had to be made. Maybe winning 6 in a row has allowed the team to let some bad play creep into their game. This winning streak will be over and games will be a lot harder to win if they play this way consistently. There are a couple of Oilers who can feel good about the way they played last night, but not many.
2) Nuge and Eberle. Last season when Hall was injured these two had to take control of the top line and they performed quite well in the 2nd half of the season. This year both their names were mentioned in trade rumours because…reasons. Over the last few games they have been looking more and more comfortable together again. They are shifty players. Nuge has a sneaky physicality in that it looks like he’s underestimated a lot but he sure comes away from battles with the puck with regularity. Eberle is looking very comfortable with the puck in traffic again. I was worried about his shoulder after he first came back. He’s looking great right now though.
3) Nilsson Re-Adjusts. The Oilers have relied heavily on goaltending during this stretch and Nilsson was front and center. However, the last game he played against the Rangers was particularly poor. He can make a statement by playing a solid game tonight in New York. The Oilers can only seem to get 1 goalie going at a time, but if both start to play well at the same time it opens up a lot of options down after the Holidays. Nilsson had a stretch of 8 games where he went below .920 in a game just 1 time. His last 2 outings were below .900, so he needs to bounce back.
Puck drops at 5 PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet West. Get Better, Connor!
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