Ben Scrivens gets one back.

Oct 22, 2014; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers defenseman Jeff Petry (left) along with defenseman Mark Fayne (5) and center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins celebrate with goalie Ben Scrivens (30) at the end of the third period at Rexall Place. Oilers won 3-2 Mandatory Credit: Walter Tychnowicz- USA TODAY Sports

I would like to begin this post by saying how grateful I am to live in Canada.  Here I have met people from every corner of the world, from every background possible, rich, poor, religious, non religious, people with different philosophies, ideals, customs, preferences. I believe this is a country where it is possible to live in peace and pursue happiness. I feel safe in Canada. I feel hopeful in Canada. Yesterday’s events in Ottawa were a reminder that not everyone feels this way and that there is a lot of suffering in this world. On days like yesterday things like hockey take a back seat to more important topics like life itself,  National security and a nation’s determination. But at the same time I want to believe that avenues like organized sports are part of what makes a place like Canada such an inclusive and inviting land. Sports do their part in helping kids follow something other than hatred and misunderstanding. Sports see no race nor religion. Sports are a great equalizer. Sports bring people together. This is a sports blog so I won’t say more about what happened yesterday, except for one last thing: whatever you think about the military or religious extremists, 2 men died yesterday. They both came into this world as a blank canvas. They both walked miles on this Earth and laughed and suffered. At some point they went through different paths that unfortunately led to what happened. My thoughts and prayers are with their family and friends, and as little consolation as it might be, one fell as part of a team, safeguarding the memory of his fallen comrades, and the other will no longer be haunted by hatred in this world and won’t have a chance to hurt anyone ever again.

The whys and hows are better left for people qualified to answer those questions and have no place in this blog. After all, all we do here is whine about Eakins, MacTavish and Lowe and pretend we can do a much better job at making the Oilers win games. All from the comfort of our homes at the glimmer of a computer screen.

So, on that note:

Scrivens brought balance back to the universe yesterday against the Washington Capitals. After a couple of horrible outings last week on games the Oilers should have probably won, the man stood tall and held the fort for the team in the final period of play to skate off the ice with a 3-2 win. With the struggling Carolina in town tomorrow Friday, the copper and blue have a chance to get within arm’s length of a .500 record. Right now they have 5 points out of a possible 14.

In the immortal words of Vin Diesel’s character Dominic Toretto: “ It don’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning’s winning“. The Oilers won ugly last night, but they won. I’ll take an ugly win over a loss with moral victories any day. If they want to keep winning though, this lot needs to make some adjustments.

What I remember from last night:

The stuff of legend:

• The Oilers won a second game in a row.
• Scrivens going into God mode for the last period. The Oilers were outshot 13-5 in the last 20 minutes and 23 to 10 over the last two periods. Ben made some truly heroic stops, even denying Ovi after he undressed Schultz for a Cerberus on demon slayer head to head matchup. Incredibly enough that was, I believe, Ovechkin’s first shot of the entire game. For sure he didn’t register one until sometime in the third period. Even on one of the goals Scrivens made a super ninja move where he caught an uncontested shot at five feet away after a first pad save.

The good:

• That fourth line keeps buzzing. After so many years of shuffling the bottom forwards like a deck of cards on casino night, management seems to have finally got it right. The GoHeNsu line keeps closing the deal on the last minute of play and overall getting the puck out of harms way while creating chaos on the other side as well.
• RNH and Schultz are now 2 for 2. The guys who should be scoring are scoring. Justin is beginning to live to his GM’s hype and even though it’s still early in the season it looks like the Nuge has finally arrived.
• The music at Rexall definitively sounds improved.

The bad:

• Quitting offense half way through. A perennial problem with this team since 2009. I just don’t know why this happens, either they decide that’s enough goals to win, or they are unable to stand up to the ramped up pressure form the other side. Whatever it is they need to find a cure pronto or the wins will be few and  far between.
• Yakupov and Draisaitl playing puck catch. There was a pp sequence where Yakupov was on the boards and Draisaitl close to the center of the ice and they gave each other about 4 back and forth passes like it was just the two of them on their parents’ driveway. It made for a funny moment, but the green on these two just shone bright as a Northern light.
• Ference is still playing too much. I already went at length on this topic on my last post, so I’ll just add that on this game he played a total of 20:44, good for first in the D corps and second in the team. Eakins’ desperation for wins is making him rely on the wrong people. Even though Marincin and Fayne have been trusted together with the fourth line to close out the final minute of play, Ference is still playing way too much on games that haven’t really been physical.
• The middle six, minus Purcell, plus Eberle, are all struggling right now. It looks like an issue of chemistry and playing time. I think Purcel has earned a cameo with the first line and Eberle has shown chemistry with Arcobello in the past. The Oilers can’t rely on just Hall, SChultz and RNH to do all the scoring. As for Draisaitl, all has been said at this point, only thing left is wait and see what happens after he plays his ninth game.

The ugly

• Sportsnet play by play man and Glenn Healy. I’m not sure who the play by play guy was but man, he kept narrating YAKIMOV plays all throughout the game. I mean seriously. Then Glenn Healy wanting to ship BOTH Yakupov and Eberle for Shea Weber, well that just deserved a kick in the little Healies.

Carolina is up on Friday, everyone is healthy and they can really get back in it with a third win. On a different note, very classy of the Pens, Anaheim and Buffalo to sign the Canadian anthem even though they weren’t facing Canadian teams yesterday.