Auston Matthews Returns from Injury, Scores Goal 29

[Maple Leafs 5, Predators 2]

Auston Matthews returned from injury and hit a top shelf wrist shot for his 29th goal of the season. What could have been this year in the way of goal scoring if Matthews had not had three stints of missed games.

He's played in 55, 29 goals and 23 assists. The Maple Leafs are mostly playing out the string, trying to get ready for an opening round playoff matchup. It's going to be an absolute barn burner with the Boston Bruins; so things will get ugly early with a true test. Some people think the Bruins are suited to win the Stanley Cup.

It was nice to see Matthews get back out there, and at some point in the final few days, he's going to tally goal number 30. With the way things have gone with his health all year, it's still been an incredibly productive season when he's out there. He's +24 on the year. It's a different game when he's on the ice for Toronto.

Oilers top Preds at Rexall

[Event Summary]

[Cult of Hockey]

The Oilers dropped a pretty good team last night (Nashville was 44-27-11 last year) by a score of 3-1, and they out-shot their opponent 25 to 12.

It was Ryan Smyth bobble-head night in Edmonton. He scored the game winning goal and assisted on an empty netter.

These guys are doing about what I thought they would do. They're playing well at home and logging points at a playoff-contender like clip. They got good goal-tending from Nikolai Khabibulin, who only allowed one goal. He's making it as though Devan Dubnyk is going to really have to battle to earn the majority of games. 

Strong games were logged by Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Tom Gilbert and the captain Shawn Horcoff. Horcoff logged three assists and Taylor Hall scored on a beautiful goal on the PP. 

Tonight the Oilers travel to Calgary for the Battle of Alberta, the first of the year. I have fond memories of this rivalry as when I first started following the Oilers they beat the Flames 4-0 on opening night.

RNH to Taylor Hall for the first time

A little history, and hopefully the first of many.

Oilers lose 3-2 in shootout to Nashville

I was bummed after the Jets dropped the AFC title game to the Steelers. And my NHL team gave it a good fight against a competitive team last night which I was happy about. In the end, they fell short via a shootout. They lost to one of the hottest goaltenders in the sport in Pekka Rinne.

Goal #15 in the career of Taylor Hall tied it at 2.


[Box Score]

A Versus writer has Taylor Hall winning the fastest skater at the skills competition on Saturday:

Fastest Skater: Remember, the rookies get to partake in this. So, since Rangers speedster Marian Gaborik won't be in Raleigh this weekend, we'll go with Edmonton Oilers future superstar Taylor Hall. The kid's wheels already make defensemen look silly.

Oilers Nation says that in regards to the Oil dealing Ales Hemsky and Dustin Penner, where there is smoke there is fire.

They also have a pretty nice read on the overall state of affairs with the Oilers right now:

Who else but Oilers fans would calmly sit through a stretch this inept? Over the past 375 ice hockey matches since the Cup Run the Oil have posted a 152-185-38 record.
They have put up enough bricks to rebuild the Great Wall of China just south of the City limits and have left us all hoping to come back in the next life as one of the 15 remaining Atlanta Thrashers fans on earth.
They have a team that is going places.

I've been trying to update today as much as possible. This is pretty neat. Live Tweetcast from yesterday's Oilers & Barons games.