The Devil's goals were scored by Kyle Palmieri (2). Nikita Gusev (2) and Damon Severson (1) as the Devils gained their second point of the season, but will still be attempting to find their first win with their next chance being Saturday night against the Bruins.
Hell Raisers
1) Let's deal with those judicious whistles or non-whistles first.
The Devils are holding on with a 3-2 lead, but the general rule of thumb in officiating in a one-goal game is this- Unless a penalty is very egregious, you try to let the players decide the game.
Fine, but as Taylor Hall was hauled down by Oskar Klefbom, that looked to be the type of play that couldn't be overlooked.
No whistle, but OK they are going to let them play.
Edmonton pulls goalie Mikko Koskinen with a little over a minute to go for a 6 on 5 advantage in an attempt to tie and Connor McDavid has the puck and Blake Coleman would prefer to have it for himself.
Coleman swipes at the puck and lightly brushes the leg of McDavid, who is arguably the talented player in the league.
Apparently, McDavid is a thespian in his spare time as he hits the ice acting like he's been run over by the Zamboni and the arm goes up for a penalty.
So much for as another famous athlete turned actor named Bob Watson once uttered- "Let them Play".
2) And of course, it cost the Devils as now with Edmonton with six skaters to the Devils four,
Edmonton sets up and fires the puck at Mackenzie Blackwood, who makes the save, but can't quite control the puck.
Still, you clearly hear a whistle blowing which usually means the puck is dead and play has stopped.
Apparently, those rules don't apply to the aforementioned McDavid, who slams the puck into the net.
It appears to be a matter of frustration until the officials rule that the goal counts.
Now, how that happens when an official blew his whistle, play and players stopped and yet, it's still a good goal is beyond me, but that's what happened and cost the Devils a point and eventually the game.
Edmonton still may have scored as they still had over another minute of 6 on 4 play, but this was a terrible call.
Pro sports often gives superstars a break, but two of these large breaks at this stage of the game is ridiculous and awful officiating.
3) The overtime was fun though with both teams taking chances and having breakaway opportunities that neither could take advantage,
Taylor Hall had two by himself and didn't score, although one shot crashed off the post.
The NHL has such a great and exciting thing going with 3 on 3 overtime, it's the best thing that they have and I still wish they would extend the overtime to hopefully decide games before they would reach the shootout.
4) Andy Greene missed the game with an upper-body injury.
Greene doesn't miss a lot of time and the soon to be 37-year-old captain is at the stage of his career where aches and pains that you could once play through are suddenly a burden.
I wonder if Greene is going to be playing after this season and if so, will it be in New Jersey?
I doubt it, Greene is a free agent at the end of the year, his five million dollars can be used elsewhere and rarely do aging players take big pay cuts for non-championship contenders.
5) The penalty killers allowed two of the three goals, but I can forgive the McDavid goal.
It's the other goal by James Neal that gets to me as Neal redirected a shot by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins past Mackenzie Blackwood in the second period.
Neither forward killing penalties was anywhere near Neal and the defensemen did their ice cream softee performance in clearing the crease (as noted yesterday).
On the evening, the Oilers scored on two of their three power-play chances.
6) The shootout only saw one goal scored in the initial three rounds as Edmonton's third shooter Leon Draisaitl beat Mackenzie Blackwood to end the game.
Draisaitl scored the Oilers' first goal of the game, the only one that Edmonton scored at even strength.
Draisaitl logged the most ice time of any Oiler (more than the most heralded McDavid) and the 23 year old German scored 50 goals with more than 100 points last season and scored more goals than McDavid and only nine fewer points.
This is a player that is only going to get better and there is a chance that Draisaitl and McDavid could be the next Crosby and Malkin.
7) Mackenzie Blackwood was solid in net in the loss.
He can't be faulted for the Neal and McDavid goals, made several big saves in overtime and only allowed one goal in the shootout.
Blackwood was clearly better than in his previous start against Buffalo and deserved a little better than a loss.
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