Happy New Year to you all and welcome to the 2020 portion of the 2019/2020 NHL season. On New Years Eve the Edmonton Oilers graced fans with two unbelievable periods of hockey against the New York Rangers, with the team going into the third period with a 6-1 lead.
Then the Oilers really Oiler'd things up in the third. Collapse doesn't come close to describing what happened. Edmonton completely fell apart, giving up four goals on 12 shots in the third, securing an empty net goal in the final minute to give Edmonton a 7-5 win.
A win is a win, but it almost made the overall game unenjoyable. RNH, James Neal, and Kailer Yamamoto were all strong contributors and luckily Oscar Klefbom will not miss any time after taking a puck to the foot. Seeing how much the Oilers defense struggled in the third without Klefbom should be telling for anyone who thinks Darnell Nurse is more valuable player on the backend for the Oilers.
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Before the last blog, I went into some detail on the Oilers team over this past decade. Overall Edmonton has been one of the worst teams over the past 10 years but the Buffalo Sabres likely come in as a close second. The Sabres have missed the playoffs eight years in a row now, and will likely miss for the ninth straight season with how their season has gone up to this point.
Through December, the Sabres had a record of 5-7-2, nearly identical to the Oilers own 5-8-1 record. Right now Buffalo is dealing with some injuries to their lineup while Edmonton is mostly healthy.
Edmonton has a chance to do something they were unable to do the entire month of December; win two games in a row. They will attempt to do so tonight icing the best second line they have been able to all season.
1.) Smith - Mike Smith had to get into a game eventually and maybe Tippett really believes in Smith's New Years Resolution to post a game with a Sv% of at least 0.900. something he hasn't done since November 23rd.
2.) Good Looking #2 - Connor McDavid remains the best player on the Oilers roster, but the second line might be the more dangerous line tonight. Tippett has put Draisaitl at centre in between Ryan Nugent Hopkins and Kailer Yamamoto. Overall I felt Yamamoto played a good first game back in the NHL against the Rangers; was involved in the play and didn't make any egregious mistakes. This should be a fun trio to watch all game.
3.) Don't Do That Again - Every player on the Edmonton Oilers shouldn't have to be told this...but Tippett absolutely should anyways; giving up a 6 goal lead any almost losing as a result is completely unacceptable in a beer league game, let alone the NHL. Credit to the Rangers for forcing their way back in but Edmonton needs to find a way to shut a team down when they have such a commanding lead.
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FILM OF THE DAY
In the past decade, the superhero movie reigned supreme at the box office. Sometimes lost in that was a great film from 2012 called Chronicle. No sports analogy here, just go watch Chronicle if you haven't.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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