Hey, the Oilers are not doing bad this week! They managed to go 2-1, losing a stinker in Toronto, winning in a shootout against Boston and winning in overtime against Dallas.
To be fair, I didn’t really expect the Oilers to be 2-1 this week. I had them going 1-2 with the win going against Toronto.
The Boston game was my second game of the season I had the chance to watch the Edmonton Oilers live and it was my first original six team and my first NHL shootout. Plus, this time, nobody broke their clavicles!
Edmonton Oilers Three Stars
3) Jordan Eberle . Eberle gets the third star this week because of his shootout winner and over time winner. That said, he has not played the greatest so far. However, both goals were just beautiful. Top corner, both goalies had no chance. It was vintage Eberle.
2) Taylor Hall. Hall right now has leveraged himself above Leon Draisaitl for best current Edmonton Oiler skater. He continues to drive the plays and is the heart of the Oilers offense. He had a very solid showings all week, including a goal in the game against Dallas.
1) Anders Nilsson. Could the Edmonton Oilers finally have a decent goaltender? He’s been rock solid these past few games. While all summer I was on board with Cam Talbot (I STILL AM!), it’s refreshing to see Nilsson, the guy who was seen as fighting for the backup spot with Ben Scrivens, taking the starting position. He stopped a whopping 42 shots out of 43 against Dallas. It’s not often we have an Oilers goalie stealing games for the team but we had one on Friday night.
Dishonorable mention: Mark Fayne. Boy Fayne looked god awful against Dallas. Oilers Nerd Alert has a solid blog post about how badly Fayne struggled.
Edmonton Oilers News and Rumors
The Oilers don’t have a lot going on. Travis Hamonic is still a New York Islander. Mark Spector had a very obvious article that the Edmonton Oilers are bound to make a move by the NHL draft.
Yesterday, The Hockey News had an embarrassingly bad article about how the Edmonton Oilers must not get the First Overall pick yet again. I wrote a response over at Oilonwhyte.com but my goodness. When the author is the former Editor in Chief of the Hockey News and he can’t even get simple names right (Scott McLellan) or facts (Blues drafted Erik Johnson, not the Blue Jackets) its’ very hard to take something like that seriously. You should read it and treat it like part of the funnies section of the news paper.
Around the League
- Sportsnet has a good article about former World Junior standout Patrice Cormier who still struggles to make it to the NHL
- Shea Weber became the first Nashville defenseman to score a Hat Trick
- John Scott is leading the NHL All star game vote.
- Wayne Gretzky is also calling for angled goal posts.
- Patrick Kane continues his point streak, has support from Bobby Hull
- Sportsnet has a top ten list of awkward breakups.
- In the OHL, Mitch Marner had a hat trick recently.
Highlights
Mike Condon made an outstanding save
Erik Karlsson is deadly in Overtime. Bonus: Bob Cole!
Best Radio Calls
Cool moment: Cammalleri ties the game up with Dad watching on.
This Wild fan watched the game in her wedding dress. What a keeper.
Finally, Eberle’s beauty in the shootout that sealed the Oilers win.
The Week ahead
The Oilers have three games this week all at home as they conclude a five game home stead. Tonight they face the Buffalo Sabres, what could have been McDavid vs Eichel round one, Wednesday against San Jose and Friday the Rangers visit for Glen Sather’s night at Rexall.
That’s the week that was, follow me on Twitter! Have a good one, Oil Country.
