Kinda late, but I was there for today's game and here's my thoughts.
-Oilers got robbed penalty-wise. They maybe wouldn't have held on to win the game, but the extra penalty for the fight/scrum to put them down 5 on 3 was a b.s. Oilers were really vocal with refs and habitual line-steppers all game, I'm guessing one of the refs got fed up and gave him the extra penalty. How you make that call when a team is already down 5-4 is beyond me.
-Franky Palazzese actually looked really good, despite letting in 5 goals. On one he was pushed into the net, another one was a deflection. He handles the puck really well, although sometimes a little too much. I wouldn't be upset if he were to get a main camp invite out of this.
-Kale Kessy is a friggin' menace, to opponents and teammates alike. If the Oilers can reign in his worst habits, he could be a Cal Clutterbuck-type player for the Oilers. He generates incredible momentum for his hits that just rattle the boards. Was put out on the ice after the Oilers were already down 5-2 in the last minute and he was determined he was going to put somebody through the boards, taking long runs at everyone. Ultimately, he hit Ewanyk which generated a huge round of applause from the Canuck fans in the arena.
-Ewanyk looked good. Showed some fire and threw some good hits.
-Abney was a good kind of noticeable, throwing some big hits.
-Nurse had a really good game, despite being -2. You can see he has a good read on the play and great skating. He looked more confident jumping into the play and will be a huge factor on games when he figures out how/when to do that. He didn't bowl anyone over with physical play, but he stood up for teammates. Nice bounce-back game from him.
-Miller is really fast, but I was a little disappointed with him, truthfully. He tries to pass too much and will sometimes give up on puck races to avoid contact.
-Khaira is going to be a force. He's already muscling bigger, and heavier players off the puck, if he can get his playing weight up to 215-225 lbs, he could be that power forward Edmonton has long coveted. He was Edmonton's best forward.
-Baddock left the 1st early, pointing to his leg. Then the P.A. system called a doctor to the locker-room, but he turned up at some point late in the 2nd and played fine, mainly in a defensive role on the PK.
-Bilke really wanted to fight someone but could never find anyone willing to go. He played all right, but was noticeably slow in racing to a lose puck.
-Chase was like Kessy Jr. In one post-whistle scrum, he threw punches at four different players (including one that, to me, looked like it might have been below the belt) before finding one willing to scrap with him.
-I didn't really notice Platzer, Fyten, or Schaber much, even though Plazter got a goal and Fyten was apparently -3. I was disappointed Fyten never fought someone so we could hear "Austin Fyten, five minutes for fightin.' "
-Roy had a really good game. My biggest problem with his play last year is he never used his decent frame to hit, but he played a really solid, physical game tonight. If he can add that physicality regularly to his superior puck skills, he could be a really special player.
-Davidson was good, despite being -3. Good skater, good compete level and took the puck right off the stick of attacking players a few times.
-Leach, Gernat and Betker had pretty quiet games. Gernat's got a nice reach for neutralizing opponents. Betker got better as the game went on.
-Musil didn't look very good. Had some poor turnovers.
-Lastly, the biggest bummer of the night is how damn good Kyle Bigos looked for San Jose. There was one power-where he was just controlling the puck at the point, making nifty plays and launching bombs at the net. He also played good defence, threw some hits, and even fought the monstrous Keegan Kanzig. He also looked even bigger than his advertised 6'4". 235 lbs. Don't know how the Oilers saw nothing in this guy? Not even on an AHL deal?!