The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Chicago Blackhawks at the expense of losing two players in the bout. Oilers rookie phenom left the game early which was later described as an upper body injury, while defenseman Tom Gilbert was sent crashing into the boards thanks to Hawks' forward Dan Carcillo. Each player was hurt on the play however Carcillo received a game misconduct for boarding.
"I can hear the ref screaming from the other corner to be careful, to lay up on him" said Deven Dubnyk about Carcillo. And he comes in contact and throws him off balance 5 feet from the board. I mean that's got be one of the most dangerous plays in hockey for sure and both guys get injured out of it."
Not even a week ago, Alex Plante was sent hard into the boards after he was nailed by Canucks' Dale Weise. Like Carcillo, Weise was also kicked out of the game for his dangerous play, yet the NHL felt that his game misconduct was justified and that the hit needed no further review. With now two defenesemen out of the line-up for the Oilers it will be interesting to see if the NHL will review the Carcillo hit; and perhaps punish the agitator. According to the Oilers head coach Tom Renney, feels Carcillo could be watching a few games from the press booth.
Heck, even Chicago Blackhawks play-by-play announcer believes that Carcillo will have a "meeting with Brendan Shanahan."
"I think the hit speaks for itself and the penalty does as well. At least to this point it's been addressed and I hope it will be looked into even further." said Tom Renney.
Blackhawks bench boss Joel Quenneville kept his lip tight about the hit and offered only his perspective on the play.
"I'm not going to argue the call. He beat him to the counter-hit. It wasn't intent. Both guys went for the same type of play and he beat him, he had better position on the guy. It's unfortunate what happened."
Bounce Back!
The Oilers 4-3 win snapped a 3 game losing skid, but it was all thanks namely to two players who were on the Oilers Blacklist in recent games.
After the debacle on Long Island, Devan Dubnyk and Ben Eager were given the green light to lace-up against the Blackhawks; and as a result, the pair came out as hero's.
"It feels real good. It was pretty exciting to get the opportunity. I was nice for Tom to give me a chance to get back in here. We talked about how we needed this one. We battled hard for the whole game. It was fun, there were definitely some nerves for me at the start, which isn't a bad thing. I settled in nice, I just didn't want to let anything bother me all night and I though I did that." said Devan Dubnyk who set aside 30 pucks for.
Between the two aforementioned players, Eager was team's goat versus the New York Islanders. The forward was responsible for 3 penalties which destroyed any chance for an Oilers comeback. However, the Winger re-deemed himself by scoring against his former club. The Winger flew down the right lane and backhaned his his 3rd of the season.
"Obviously the last game was disappointing, I wasn't happy with how I played and costs the team with bad penalties. I would have been nice to play the next days so I could bounce back. Tonight I wanted to come with a good effort and I was fortunate to score a goal and it happened to be a big one." said Eager.
Ryan Smyth, Taylor Hall each enjoyed a goal and an assist while Jordan Eberle set up two apples each for the win.
Eberle now leads the club with 41 points in 38 games. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is second with 35 points with Smyth trailing behind RNH by 2 points. Taylor Hall rounds out the top 4 with 26 pts.
The Oilers will now face the Buffalo Sabers tonight.
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