Player grades: Oilers show up late for work again and it costs them 2 points in Detroit - Edmonton Journal

Rabu, 30 Oktober 2019

Player grades: Oilers show up late for work again and it costs them 2 points in Detroit - Edmonton Journal

Oilers 1, Red Wings 3

If there was one obvious game plan for Dave Tippett and the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, it was to be ready for the start of the darn game. The Oilers had been outscored by a combined 9-1 over the first two periods of their prior three games, allowing goals in rapid succession in each of them. They were fortunate to pull one out in a massive comeback but got thoroughly dominated in the other two.

So what happens? The Detroit Red Wings, buried in an 8-game losing streak, got a wide open 2-on-1 in the first 15 seconds of the game and spent the entirety of the first two minutes buzzing around Edmonton territory, their opponents a day late and a dollar short to one race or would-be puck battle after another. A few minutes later the visitors fell behind, then allowed a second just 52 seconds later. The FOURTH STRAIGHT game that Edmonton gave up their first two goals within 90 seconds of each other. By the end of the first the shots on goal were 13-5 Detroit and the score could easily have been worse than 2-0.

Thru 40 minutes, last 4 games:

Oilers 0, Wild 3
Oilers 1, Caps 3
Oilers 0, Panthers 3
Oilers 0, Red Wings 2
— Bruce McCurdy (@BruceMcCurdy) October 30, 2019

That 2-0 lead, forged inside one minute, proved to be just enough for the desperate Red Wings. The visitors finally woke up and smelled the coffee in the final frame, outshooting the Wings 17-5 and cutting the gap to 2-1 with 7 minutes to play, but they couldn’t convert an extended 4-on-3 powerplay nor could they find any magic with the goalie pulled. While the Oilers wound up with a 32-28 bulge on the shot clock, Grade A scoring chances were 12-9 Detroit who also held a wide edge in odd-man rushes and in general defensive intensity. To these eyes the better team on the night got the two points.

Player grades

#4 Kris Russell, 3. Failed to challenge the night’s best player, Dylan Larkin, on the opening goal which Larkin pulled right to the net front before making the deposit. Russell was perhaps guarding against a backdoor pass but Larkin was the danger man and quickly proved it. Otherwise was on the wrong side of the possession battle again, with shot attempts +13/-19 and shots +7/-10 during hius 18 even strength minutes

#16 Jujhar Khaira, 5. Responded fairly well to his opportunity to play with more skilled forwards, as his line with RNH and Gagner dominated possession (shot attempts +16/-4, shots +12/-2, with Khaira himself having 6 and 3 respectively. Had one decent chance at a rebound from in tight, but didn’t get a lot on his shot. Was noticeable on the backcheck in a good way on a couple of occasions.

#18 James Neal, 3. His weak pass to Chiasson in Edmonton territory seconds after the opening goal led to a turnover, a free scoring chance, and the game-winning goal. Took an utterly needless interference penalty in the middle frame. Later had 3 shots on net but was unable to find the range. Did make one strong backcheck to thwart another developing odd-man rush, a rare defensive stand by an Oilers forward on this night.

#19 Mikko Koskinen, 7. Left to his own devices on the first goal and couldn’t stay with Larkin on the doorstep. Slightly culpable on the 2-0 tally seconds later when the immortal Patrik Nemeth blew a slapshot past him from the top of the circle, though to my eye the netminder was screened by a teammate at the critical moment. Came up big for the entire duration of the game, holding his team in at 2-0 despite facing numerous clear breakaways (at least four, by Darren Helm, Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou 2x), odd-man rushes (at least a hundred, or so it seemed at times), and open looks from the slot. His save of Athanasiou’s breakaway roughly 2 seconds after the Draisaitl goal might have been a game-saver, until it wasn’t. 27 shots, 25 saves, .926 save percentage.

#23 Riley Sheahan, 2. Checking centre started the game and was among those responsible for the 2-on-1 against just 15 seconds into the first period. Was burned twice more on consecutive wide-open 3-on-2 rushes mere seconds apart on a particularly rancid second period shift, when all three “checking” forwards weren’t even in the same time zone as their three counterparts, let alone the actual puck. Played just 6 minutes at evens, during which time Edmonton mustered just 1 shot, not by him (his own 1 shot attempt drilled his linemate P.Russell). Was whipped in the faceoff circle beginning the sequence of pain on the Wings powerplay goal. 2/6=33% on the dot including 0/4 on the PK on a generally miserable night for the former Red Wing.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 4. Was forced into emergency mode on the very first shift of the game when he tried to freeze the puck on the edge of the blue paint to stifle a brutal defensive sequence for the Oil. Made one fine defensive stop of the giant Anthony Mantha, but had precious little happening at the good end.

#26 Brandon Manning, 4. Played 10:40, all of it at evens, during which time Edmonton dominated possession but couldn’t generate much. Did get caught on the wrong side of the puck on a Detroit breakaway, so there’s that.

#29 Leon Draisaitl, 5. Came out with a chip on his shoulder and paid a price when his borderline hit on Tyler Bertuzzi was whistled for boarding, leading to Detroit’s powerplay goal. Drew two penalties himself, but the Oilers couldn’t convert. Didn’t have the puck on its usual string, losing a few puck battles in the process. Just 6/15=40% on the dot. His line was second best to the Larkin unit for much of the night, as backed up by possession stats (+11/-23 in shot attempts, +8/-14 in shots). Came on in the closing minutes to notch the one Edmonton goal, his tenth of the young season, but it was far from his best night. Played a mammoth 26:43 with an average shift length of 76 seconds. Will somehow need to regenerate those big batteries for another game tomorrow night.

#39 Alex Chiasson, 4. His inability to read or field Neal’s d-zone pass played a crucial role on the game winner. Some decent work in the trenches, but 0 shot attempts and 0 contributions to scoring chances. When he plays with Neal there seems to be some miscommunication at times about which guy plays which wing.

#44 Zack Kassian, 5. Had a big early shift when he twice hammered Nemeth, then got a decent chance from the slot to briefly turn the early momentum Edmonton’s way after the awful start. Made a great flying screen of Howard on the Draisaitl goal. One awful turnover deep in his own end, but a couple of sharp passes as well. 5 hits on the night, and a second shot when he was robbed by Jimmy Howard from close range in Edmonton’s last, best chance with Koskinen on the bench.

#52 Patrick Russell, 3. He was among the three forwards on the checking line burned on three separate odd-man rushes. Was also a trifle late to close the gap to Filip Hronek on Detroit’s powerplay goal, contributing to a moment of indecision by his namesake Kris who was briefly trying to cover two different danger men at once. That didn’t end well. A couple of hits but nothing offensively.

#74 Ethan Bear, 3. Had some very nice moments moving the puck as usual, but struggled mightily without it. Was burned on a centre ice pinch for the very early 2-on-1. Screened Koskinen on the 2-0 goal with a mistimed flyby through the shooting the lane. Twice was completely overwhelmed by wide speed, as first Larkin, then Athanasiou blew right past him on 1-on-1 scenarios. Two of the league’s fastest skaters, mind, but Bear will need to learn to get his own feet moving and push the play wide in that scenario. Was forced to haul down Larkin, and to rely on a superb save by Koskinen vs. Athanasiou.

#77 Oscar Klefbom, 4. Played 25:45 to lead the defence crew. Oilers spent too much of that time in their own end, as has happened routinely vs. the Klefbom-Russell duo in recent games. (+11/-16 on 5v5 shot attempts in this one.) Bigger problem came on the PK, where he was burned on the first Detroit powerplay goal when he “fronted” the net too high, allowing Larkin to get behind him to receive the pass and take it right into the blue paint for the finish.

#83 Matt Benning, 4. Decent in a bottom pairing role, playing 10 minutes during which time Detroit didn’t muster a shot on net. Played with some edge, landing 5 hits including a beauty on Frans Nielsen and getting into a couple of scrums. Did have a couple of soft handles of the puck with one weak clearance and another unnecessary icing. Was among those Oilers D who were exposed by wide speed, as he got easily beaten by Athanasiou in top gear.

#89 Sam Gagner, 6. Teamed up with RNH and Khaira on a decent second line and had some jump in his step. Fired 2 shots and set up his linemates for a few looks. Oilers dominated possession on his watch.

#91 Gaetan Haas, 4. Returned to the line-up and played 11 minutes. Looked decent enough, though with precious little impact on the game. While he wasn’t responsible for the killer turnover, I have an idea that his coaches won’t be enamoured with his positioning on the 2-0 goal, when he wandered into the same side of the ice as Neal and Chiasson, leaving the other side wide open for the scoring shot.

#92 Tomas Jurco, 3. Not a factor. During his 8 minutes of ice time the Oilers mustered 1 measly shot while allowing multiple odd-man rushes. Another former Red Wing who showed precious little on Ken Holland’s big night.

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. About the best of Edmonton’s skaters, RNH played a few ticks short of 22 minutes, peppering Howard with a team-high 6 shots and leading a line which controlled play to the tune of 13 shots for, 2 against at 5v5. Part of that possession was due to his 7/10=70% performance in the faceoff circle. But the scoring drought continues, just 1 point in his last 6 games now.

#97 Connor McDavid, 5. Was physically engaged for much of the night as he was constantly skating into a thicket of defensive sticks, not to mention arms, legs, bodies, and grappling irons. Responded with 3 hits of his own. Created a couple of decent shots from outside, but passed off a couple more good looks with an extra move or pass. Generally didn’t impose his fearsome speed on the game to the same effect as his counterpart Larkin. Did set up Draisaitl’s goal with a nifty give-and-go, but couldn’t find an equalizer. Just 1/7=14% on the dot, mostly against Larkin whose 15/20=75% led to plenty of possession for Detroit and plenty of chasing for Edmonton’s big guns. Indeed McDavid lost 6 of 6 draws in his own end of the ice on a night the Oilers as a team won just 3 of 19 puck drops behind their own blueline. Did I mention it wasn’t their night?

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