Thursday, January 31, 2013

Post Game: Game #7 Sharks 3 Oilers 2 (SO)

1ST PERIOD
No Scoring

2ND PERIOD
SJ Couture 5 (Unassisted) 7:32
SJ Pavelski 4 (Unassisted) 8:11
EDM Gagner 3 (Fistric, Yakupov) 10:56

3RD PERIOD
EDM Hall 2 (Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins) 0:51

OT
No Scoring

Shootout:
Edmonton
Sam Gagner Miss
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Miss

San Jose
Michal Handzus Goal
Joe Pavelski Miss
Dan Boyle Goal


Edmonton
Devan Dubnyk 36/38

San Jose
Antti Niemi 26/28

Game Notes:
- The Oilers are learning to love the drama this season and this game was no different. Oilers battled to a stalemate after one period, had a woeful 2nd period on two clear path goals by San Jose on some ugly execution, but to the Oilers credit, they battled back to get the game into overtime to salvage a point out of this one. Ultimately, the overtime and shootout were not kind to the Oilers as it looked like the fatigue caught up to them. The Oilers base structure of their game looks rock solid right now. No missed assignments in the defensive zone, they made the Sharks work for every inch of ice. What's needed now is to get more flow out of the forwards. Too many one and dones and no cohesiveness on the line rushes. Hockey is about adjustments and right now Ralph Krueger needs to tweak forward lines to get the well-oiled machine running a little more smoothly. All in all, a solid game from the Oilers. This was a point I wasn't expecting the Oilers to get, but its one they can put in the bank, and who knows, maybe that point is the difference between playoffs and no playoffs.

Player Of The Game:
Devan Dubnyk G - For the 2nd night in a row, Dubnyk was outstanding again. He had no chance on either of the goals, as both goals came off of egregious plays by the Oilers. The Oilers played well in front him but there were moments in the first and second periods, and again in overtime where Dubnyk was left to his own devices. I'm starting to become a Dubnyk believer. His 3rd game in four nights and they were all stellar. Especially at a time when the Oilers goals for have dried up.

Goat Of The Game:
Ryan Whitney D - I guess I could make this co-goats of the game but since Whitney started the mess, I'll stick him with the horns. Whitney was making a modest rush up the ice, but ran right into the teeth of the Sharks' pressure. The right play would have been to either flip to safety or even take an icing. Instead Whitney handed a greande to Ales Hemsky, in turn, Hemsky attempted to hand the grenade back to Whitney, all which resulted in a breakaway goal from Logan Couture. There were a few plays like this tonight that need to be ironed out, but all in all, it was largely a clean game by the Oilers, but they struggled to stay in the game at the end due to the heavy legs from a back to back.

Next Game:  Saturday February 2 vs. Avalanche @ Colorado 1 PM MT

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