Post Game: Game #68 Avalanche 3 Oilers 2 (SO)

Scoring Summary
1st Period
EDM Ryan Smyth 19 (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle) 19:23


2nd Period
COL Cody McLeod 6 (Ryan Wilson, Kevin Porter) 4:44

COL Peter Mueller 6 (Milan Hejduk, Mark Olver) 10:05


3rd Period
EDM Taylor Hall 25 (Jordan Eberle) 15:17


OT Period
None

Shootout
COL Milan Hejduk shootout goal

EDM Jordan Eberle shootout miss

COL Peter Mueller shootout goal

EDM Sam Gagner shootout saved

Shots On Goal - Oilers 30 Avalanche 32

Game Notes:
- Tough one to lose. The Oilers were in a see saw affair. I game they should lost, then won, but ultimately lost in a shootout. The Oilers got jobbed on a call in the third period that denied the then tying goal by Ales Hemsky saying Sam Gagner interfered with the goaltender Varlamov. Gagner never touched the goaltender but was in the crease when the goal was scored. Goal should have counted but was waved off by referee paul devorski and ultimately robbed the Oilers of a win. The Oilers have had a tough time with the refs this year. Poor quality reffing is very apparent this year, at every level. I really think the speed of the game is catching up with them and the calls seem very shaky from game to game. Hockey, in general, will have to find ways to help the refs out. They are having a tough time keeping up to the game. The fact that the rules seem so gray these days isn't helping them out. As for the Oilers, they played hard, found some dumb spost as usual, got the game to a shootout and lost the coin flip badly, 2-0. If this game meant more, I think there would be more venom on the missed call, but since it wasn't, there wasn't.

Player of the Game:
- Nikolai Khabibulin. If Khabibulin didn't play a fantastic third period, the Oilers would have never got a point out of this game and if the Oilers didn't get jobbed, they would have gotten two points out of it. Khabibulin let in a somewhat soft first goal and went 0 for 2 in the shootout but otherwise was solid if not spectacular. Hemsky, Hall and Eberle had decent games as well, but went long stretches of nothing like a lot of the rest of the team did.

Goat of the Game:
- Ladislav Smid. Smid and Petry had tough games in general. Smid was on the ice for both Colorado goals. First goal, he covered his area well, but the shooter found a soft spot between he and Petry, 2nd goal Smid got caught trying to attampt a line change but caught up the ice and was too late getting back to cover his player, Mueller, who eventually scored. While Smid has had a strong year, defensive defensemen who bring little offense, have little room for error, because ultimately, you want everyone on your team to outscore the opponent. Toughness, grit and paying the price are big parts of the game, but when you bring little offense, the margin gets cut down significantly. Smid is what he is though, a solid, stay at home Dman.

Next Game - Monday March 12, 2012 vs. Sharks @ Rexall Place on TSN 7:30 PM MT.