Coyotes 5 – Oilers 4 (OT) – Czech this out….Worst. Officiated. Game. EVAR!!!!

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The Coyotes and Oilers met in the confines of Rexall Place Tuesday night on an chilly Edmonton evening. When the final goal was scored in OT, both teams experienced what has to be one of the WORST officiated games in Coyotes and possibly Oilers history….either that or Rexall Place entered the Twilight Zone for the duration of the game.

The first period of the game started off with the Coyotes pretty much dictating the pace of the game. The Oilers didn’t really put forth an effort or play with a sense of discipline or urgency in their game. It was like the Oilers were either just going through the motions or they just couldn’t mentally handle/comprehend that they were playing a game against the Coyotes. It was really hard to pin down what they were thinking in the first.

Just a little over half way through the first period of the game, Radim Vrbata scored one of the best goals of the season for the Coyotes off of a face off.

Check it out…

Now you all know that I harp on the Coyotes for wanting better faceoff win percentages from them. THIS goal is a prime reason why. The Coyotes had yet to show this season that they could win faceoffs at critical moments in a given game. In this case, the Oilers were caught napping on the faceoff and the Coyotes capitalized on it.

Vrbata’s goal along with a goal by Shane Doan pretty much dictated the flow of the game until both teams entered the Twilight Zone half way through the second.

All the craziness seemed to have stared off with a HORRIBLE slashing call on Bryzgalov and then spiraled on down into…..the Twilight Zone right after that.

At one point in the the second period Oilers tough guy Zach Stortini, came up to Bryzgalov and it seemed that Stortini got into Bryzgalov’s face and possibly his head. I say ‘possibly his head’ because Bryzgalov gave up some extremely soft goals to Oilers defenseman Gilbert Brule and later on to Oilers defenseman Denis Grebeshkov that was uncharacteristic of Bryzgalov.

The game entering the Twilight Zone seems to be the only logical explanation for the deterioration of the quality of calls….or lack thereof…(that started with the poor slashing call on Bryzgalov) like the one where the referees gave Zach Stortini only a 2 minute minor for boarding Coyotes Vernon Fiddler’s face into the Boards.

Actually, mauling his face into the boards would be more appropriate.

Stortini should have gotten AT LEAST a 5 minute major for that one….just horrid officiating.

Next, there was a blown play by Coyotes defenseman Jim Vandermeer (#2) that led to a break away goal by Oilers forward Patrick O’Sullivan.

Here’s the O’Sullivan goal that was started off by Jim Vandermeer mental error:

Keep in mind that it’s Vandermeer’s first game back from injury so people shouldn’t stress over it. Blame it on the Twilight Zone.

The Coyotes seemed to have responded to the two quick goals by scoring two quick goals of their own off of Oilers mistakes.

Martin Hanzal scored a beauty goal off of a dump in of the puck into the Coyotes offensive zone:

Then, not even three minutes later Petr Prucha scored a dandy goal:

It was at this point the game entered further into the Twilight Zone that included a horrid no goal call from the on-ice referees:

Forward the video to 3:16 to see the sequence of events for yourself:

Once the game continued after the no-goal call, the Oilers scored two goals in less than 40 seconds apart on a Coyotes team that looked like it was on its heels and coming apart at the seams. I wondered if they were still in shock over the horrible no-goal call for the Coyotes.

Here’s the first Oilers goal after the no-goal call from Denis Grebeshkov (Note #2 Jim Vandermeer not in the right position to cover Grebeshkov’s shot):

Then, Dustin Penner puts his big frame in front of the net and watch what happens:

The game was sent into overtime where Coyotes Captain Shane Doan scored this beauty at 1:37 into overtime:

Game notes:

- Paul Bissonnette had his absolute BEST game as a Coyote against the Oilers scoring two assists and was punishing the Oilers at every opportunity.

Game highlights:

Game Summary

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS020636.HTM

Event Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/ES020636.HTM

Play by Play

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/PL020636.HTM

Faceoff Breakdowns