Player grades: Oilers battle back late to gut out two tough points in Arizona - Edmonton Journal

Senin, 25 November 2019

Player grades: Oilers battle back late to gut out two tough points in Arizona - Edmonton Journal

Oilers 4, Coyotes 3 (SO)

Edmonton Oilers overcame a difficult schedule, a tough opponent, a couple of unfortunate breaks, and a third-period deficit on Sunday and somehow found a way to survive a desert encounter with two valuable points. After tying the game with 7 minutes to play the Oilers took command down the stretch and throughout overtime, though they ultimately needed a shootout tally by Connor McDavid to seal the deal, officially 4-3 over Arizona Coyotes.

It was a short turnaround for the Oilers, who played and won an outstanding game in Las Vegas very late on Saturday, then flew to Arizona to play another tough divisional rival with the minimum-allowable 22 hours between start times. The host Coyotes were also playing their second of a back-to-back, though with an afternoon game on the west coast yesterday they had a few more hours to prepare.

The Oilers were down a couple of quarts and missing a key player in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, but Sam Gagner filled in admirably on the second line while another depth player, Markus Granlund, scored the crucial tying goal with 6:48 to play in regulation. At the other end of the ice Mikko Koskinen made a number of outstanding saves, then slammed the door completely in the shootout.

Overall the better team likely won, as Edmonton held a 37-30 edge on the shot clock and 14-13 in Grade A scoring chances, including the last 8 in a row in the last 10 minutes of regulation plus the 5 of OT.

Player grades

#4 Kris Russell, 5. The versatile vet is looking at home playing his natural left side at even strength, mostly with Larsson in the current configuration. He still makes the switch to the right side of Klefbom on the PK, and that was where he got caught out on the 1-1 goal when he failed to clear the puck off his backhand side. He was otherwise rock solid, making one important clearance from the blue paint. With the Oilers trailing he made a nice rush to set up a Haas chance seconds before Granlund eventually tied it.

#6 Adam Larsson, 5. Finds himself on the third pairing as he works his way back into game sheet, where he had his best game in the three since his return. Very solid on the defensive side of the puck. 3 hits and some good cycle-busting. Made a nice rush that led to a P.Russell chance.

#10 Joakim Nygard, 3. Took an unnecessary, arguably borderline slashing penalty 8 minutes in that resulted in a ‘yotes powerplay goal. Was in the wrong place and time on Arizona’s go-ahead goal when he got pushed into the Edmonton crease by Derek Stepan and wound up both screening Koskinen and hampering his movement as Vinnie Hinostroza took advantage of the chaos from a bad angle. That’s two pretty big black marks on a night he played just 7:38 and created little at the good end.

#15 Josh Archibald, 4. Made a nice shot block to temporarily relieve the pressure from a strong Arizona powerplay, but was burned just before it ended with a cross-ice pass to the goal scorer that went right through his lane. 0 shot attempts and just 1 hit in the former Coyote’s return to the Gila Monster Arena (I think that’s what it’s called). Basically a non-factor.

#18 James Neal, 7. Tapped home the first goal, converting a laser feed from Draisaitl on the powerplay. Had some strong moments at even strength on a night that Edmonton’s makeshift second line had an excellent outing, dominating possession to the tune of 19 shot attempts to 5 during Neal’s 14½ minutes. Led Oilers forwards with 4 shots, added a couple of hits and some snarly presence.

#19 Mikko Koskinen, 7. Was very strong in the wide-open first period with a number of excellent saves, twice robbing Phil Kessel. Beaten twice on excellent shots from the slot, and not beaten on a few other excellent shots from the slot. Unlucky on the third goal when Nygard got pushed into him, unseating and unsighting the big netminder who was wholly unprepared for Hinostroza’s shot from the wing. Came back strong with a pair of brilliant stops a minute apart early in the third to keep his team in the game at 3-2 down. Then sealed the deal in the shootout by denying Hinostroza who tried to mimic McDavid’s 5-hole snipe from earlier in the shootout but couldn’t fool the giant Finn. 30 shots, 27 saves, .900 save percentage.

#23 Riley Sheahan, 4. Led Oilers forwards with 2:39 on the PK, though he was out there when Arizona cashed their one powerplay goal. Got precious little done at evens, even as he showed decent skating legs at times. Just 4/12=33% on the dot.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 7. Played a very active game, jumping into the play time and again to give McDavid, Draisaitl & Co. an extra option on the attack. Led both teams with 5 shots on goal and blocked 3 at the other end. Involved in one weird sequence where he deflected a shot past Koskinen and off his own goal post, then made an emergency recovery to fish the puck out of the blue paint to safety. Nearly ended it in overtime when he broke in to take a fine McDavid feed and test Darcy Kuemper. Also made a strong defensive play in OT to thwart Arizona’s Clayton Keller. Played 22½ minutes at evens during which time Edmonton outshot Arizona 19-11. Took a nasty crosscheck up high from Oliver Ekman-Larsson after the whistle that went unpenalized, even as it was difficult to envision the same result had their roles been reversed. Nurse’s helmet was dislodged but he maintained his composure, something of a hard-won virtue from a player known for occasional impetuous moments, who on this occasion retaliated with only a smile.

#29 Leon Draisaitl, 6. NHL’s scoring leader matched his number with a massive 29 minutes of ice time, easily the most of any NHL forward in a game so far this season. He picked up RNH’s penalty kill duties, played a ton at evens, and wound up playing 347 of the game’s last 397 seconds. Made a tremendous pass to Neal on Edmonton’s first goal, this on an early powerplay (for too many men) that needed just 24 seconds to click. There were no more PPs to be had after that, and it was tough slogging at evens against opposing defenders who had free rein to defend however they wanted against the Oilers’ top stars. Twice came close to ending the game in OT. Dominated the dot at 11/15=73%.

#39 Alex Chiasson, 7. Had a very strong game on a line with Gagner and Neal, the three oldest forwards on the Edmonton roster. Buried his best chance when Gagner set him up in the low slot early in the second. Made a strong rush and shot mere seconds after Granlund had tied the game. Won a ton of battles and was effective on both sides of the puck with 6 shot attempts, 2 hits, and 2 takeaways.

#44 Zack Kassian, 5. Played 20:47, all of it at evens. Fairly uneven night by his standards — at least this year — with 3 shots but 3 giveaways, one of which led to a scoring chance. Among those burned on the 2-2 goal.

#52 Patrick Russell, 6. His line with Haas and Granlund had their moments, most importantly on the game-tying goal on which Russell earned his 4th NHL assist, all of which have come in the last 6 games. Made one fine defensive play to cut out a dangerous pass.

#60 Markus Granlund, 7. Scored the biggest goal of the night when he knotted the count with under 7 minutes to play, when he went to the net front to recover, then cash his own rebound. Had made a fine play to set up Haas moments earlier. Make it 3 goals on the road trip for the veteran Finn, who had been goalless as an Oiler when the team left town six days ago. Edmonton outshot Arizona 7-2 during his 10 minutes at evens. Also chipped in a minute on the PK.

#74 Ethan Bear, 7. His burgeoning confidence was on display repeatedly in the late going when the rookie took the puck hard to the slot or right to the net three different times. The best chance came with 2½ minutes to play in regulation when he made a nifty dangle in the slot, then tested Kuemper with a hard wrist shot. Moved the puck well as usual, with his best moment being a 60-foot bullet pass that found McDavid in full flight in the neutral zone.

#77 Oscar Klefbom, 7. Played 25:41, just a few ticks below his NHL-leading average of 25:50 per night. Involved in Oilers’ first two goals, firstly with a somewhat-risky backhand pass across the blueline that found an open McDavid and tic-tac-toe from there. On the second it was Klefbom’s stretch pass that sprang Gagner into the zone, earning the smooth Swede his 18th point of the young season, tied for 8th among NHL d-men. Blocked 4 more shots to stretch his NHL leading total to 80, 11 more than any other NHLer and 21 more than 4th-place K.Russell. Also made a crucial defensive play in overtime to cut out a breakaway pass.

#82 Caleb Jones, 6. Another rookie D whose confidence is growing by leaps and bounds. Played 18:06 on this night, all but a few seconds of that with Klefbom in a Top Four role. A couple of iffy moments at the offensive blueline but a bunch of strong ones in his own territory.

#89 Sam Gagner, 7. Returned from 3 games in the press box to his old spot at 2C, filling in more than adequately for the injured RNH (hand issue, out at least a couple of games). His line dominated possession, Gagner himself playing a huge role with a nice combination of skill, savvy and determination. He took out Kuemper on one crease crash that left the ‘zona keeper barking at the ref. After his initial pass to Neal was blocked, Gagner took advantage of a favourable bounce to recover the disc and quickly feed Chiasson for the finish that put the Oilers up 2-1 early in the second. Set up Neal for another chance shortly thereafter, as that trio held the puck deep in Coyotes territory. 4/14=29% on the dot was the only blemish on a solid night’s work by the emergency fill-in. 0-1-1, +2 on the night.

#91 Gaetan Haas, 6. His speed stood out on a night that both teams didn’t appear to have a lot of gas in the tank. Had a big shot block to put out a fire. Came very close to tying the score seconds before Granlund took care of that necessary detail. 5/7=71% on the dot.

#97 Connor McDavid, 8. Not at his absolute top form, but still the best player on either team. Chipped in on a game-high 8 Grade A scoring chances, and was burned on 0 against — unless you want to count that one time that Christian Fischer held his leg in the neutral zone for what seemed like 15 seconds but was probably “only” 5 before Fischer left the fallen McDavid in his wake to zoom in to the Edmonton zone unmolested and rip home the 2-2 tally. No penalty in the rule book for steer wrestling, I guess. McDavid’s lone point was a secondary assist on the early powerplay tally, but he was involved in several fine set-ups. Had 8 shot attempts of his own to lead both teams. Made a key defensive play in overtime. Sealed the deal in the shootout with a nifty dangle designed to open a hole in the scrambling Kuemper, where the crafty McD instantly deposited the puck. Declined to reveal his thought processes in a deadpan post-game interview that made this observer laugh out loud.

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