Oilers 3, Ducks 5
For about 30 minutes on Sunday afternoon, things were going the Edmonton Oilers’ way. Thanks to terrific work on both special teams, they built a 3-1 lead and appeared to be in full control over the offensively-challenged Anaheim Ducks.
Unfortunately for the Oilers, most of the second half of the game was played at 5v5, where they were the second best team by a hundred nautical miles. The home squad dominated the puck battles and the puck itself, outworking, outthinking, outplaying, outshooting and ultimately outscoring the visitors 5-3.
The stats certainly support that conclusion. Anaheim outshot Edmonton 32-23, with Oilers forwards contributing just 9 of those shots. Natural Stat Trick recorded a 15-6 edge in High Danger Chances in all situations with an expected goals margin of, get this, 4.33 to 1.98. Our own video analysis at the Cult of Hockey had the Ducks holding a whopping 18-10 edge in Grade A shots including a similarly one-sided 9-4 in the more dangerous subset of 5-alarm chances. (running count).
Fair to say the Oilers richly deserved the zero points they took out of this game, which is the number that really matters. It was as poor a performance as they’ve had since October, possibly since last October.
Player grades
#2 Evan Bouchard, 6. On the ice for all 3 Oilers goals for and just the empty netter against. Scored a powerplay assist and an even strength goal in the first period that staked the Oilers to a 2-0 lead. Started and finished the play on the latter, making an excellent poke check at the defensive blue line to thwart the zone entry and chip the puck to supporting teammates, then jumping up to join the rush, receive Arvidsson’s pass high in the zone, and snap home a well-placed shot past Lukas Dostal. The “GameScore Impact Card” immediately above suggests his pairing with Ekholm had a splendid game compared to the other pairings. They did, however, have their own bad moments, with both taking a starring turn during a disastrous fire drill after the goalie pull in which 5 different Oilers turned the puck over. Contributions to Grade A Shots (GAS): Even Strength +2/-4; Special Teams 0.
#10 Derek Ryan, 4. Marked his 38th birthday in style on his first shift, by singling out #38 on the opposition (Jansen Harkins) after some early shenanigans and unceremoniously depositing the younger, bigger man on his keester. Lost a d-zone battle on the 3-3. 2 blocked shots, 1 hit, 0 shot attempts in 8:23. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST 0.
#13 Mattias Janmark, 5. His biggest contribution was the 4:29 he played on the 5-for-5 penalty kill. Very quiet at even strength, both ways. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 0.
#14 Mattias Ekholm, 5. He too was good on the PK at 5v5. Helped with puck movement but not heavily involved in offensive thrusts. Made one key stop of a burgeoning 4-on-2 rush. With the goalie out, he made a strange decision to turn a puck retrieval up the boards and into traffic rather than a simple outlet to McDavid who was wide open on the other side. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST +0/-1.
#18 Zach Hyman, 5. Made a fine play to recover the puck on the powerplay and cycle it to McDavid, earning a secondary assist for his efforts. Otherwise fairly quiet with just 1 shot on net, and even that one deflected at the release point as he was tightly marked. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST +2/-0.
#19 Adam Henrique, 4. The former Duck marked his return to Anaheim with a much better showing than Saturday’s -4 disaster in Los Angeles in which he appeared to be skating in sand. Was getting around much better in his old haunts, though though he again mustered 0 shots on net. Did his best work on the PK (3:25), including an inspired lob pass from his own end that set up Nurse for a dangerous blast at the other. Just 4/14=29% on the faceoff dot. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST +1/-0.
#25 Darnell Nurse, 2. He had a couple of good moments offensively, starting with the great stretch pass he made to send McDavid in alone, and a rather amazing give-and-go play with Henrique in which he skated about 150 feet in between times, then blasted a rocket on net. But the bad far outweighed the good. Major errors on each of the second, third and fourth Ducks goals, including a pair of real clangers. One doesn’t expect a 10-year veteran to be making rookie mistakes, but he made two of them. No idea why he tried to tip Drew Helleson’s seemingly harmless outside floater but tip it he did, out of the air and right past Pickard to cut Edmonton’s lead to 3-2. On the 4-3 he lost his stick during a board battle with former teammate Ryan Strome and made the mistake of trying to retrieve the twig rather than box out Strome, who promptly scored the deciding goal from the edge of the paint with 2½ minutes left in regulation. GAS: ES +1/-5; ST +1/-1.
#27 Brett Kulak, 4. Led Oilers defenders in both ice time (22:41) and short handed ice time (5:28). Kept things clean for the most part, though no involvement offensively. Wound up -2 though not directly involved in either sequence of pain. An expected goal share below 30% suggests his group was playing chase for the most part. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST +0/-1.
#28 Connor Brown, 5. Played 4:45 on the PK to lead all forwards. Earned a secondary assist on Bouchard’s tally by receiving Arvidsson’s pass, then feeding it back to him, otherwise very quiet offensively with 0 shots. Had a 2-on-1 rush shorthanded but his pass towards Janmark got intercepted, leading to a jailbreak and 2 dangerous shots the other way. The better, safer play would have been to shoot, perhaps looking for a rebound to the charging Janmark. Was unable to contain the outside shot on the 3-2. GAS: ES +1/-2; ST +0/-2.
#29 Leon Draisaitl, 6. Pounded home a pair of powerplay snipes, his first game with multiple PPG in thirteen months. Had some good moments offensively, firing 4 of the 9 shots Oilers forwards mustered on the day. Had some difficult moments defensively, though nothing that impacted the scoresheet until a neutral zone turnover just before the empty net goal. GAS: ES +2/-4; ST +3/-0.
#30 Calvin Pickard, 4. It’s probably not the best to describe a goalie as having a “high-event game” but that was case for the Oilers backup. With chaos reigning all around him, he made a number of fine saves but significant mistakes on three Anaheim goals. The 2-1 was a Grade B shot from the wing that beat him right along the ice where his paddle might have been. Made an ugly turnover on the 3-2, in which he ignored the safe pass to Nurse 10 feet away and instead fired it past tgwo teammates to a Duck waiting at the blueline, who then scored. On the game winner he got fooled by a pass below the icing line and was late coming across with his pads well below the goal line, his apparent deep save overruled by video review which showed the puck was across the goal line before he got to it. His first game in 11 in which he allowed more than 3 goals against, but that was the magic number in this one. 31 shots, 27 saves, .871 save percentage.
#33 Viktor Arvidsson, 5. Took a tripping penalty in the first, but emerged from the box to join the rush and tee up Bouchard’s shot. Otherwise very quiet offensively (1 shot). On the bright side, now has points in 3 straight games (2-2-4) and may be emerging from the fog of a slow start and injury absence. GAS: ES +2/-1; ST 0.
#42 Kasperi Kapanen, 3. The biggest number on a very sparse Event Summary was his traditional plus/minus of -2. Got caught on the wrong side of the goal scorer on the 2-1, even as the sequence resulted in a B shot that is more a goalie issue than a skater issue. But his weak turnover in the neutral zone led more directly to the 3-3. Nothing at all happening offensively with 0 shot attempts. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST 0.
#49 Ty Emberson, 4. Did his best work without the puck, which was a majority of the game judging from his shot shares. His 5 (five) hits were 4 (four) more than any other Oiler. 2 takeaways, 2 blocked shots. Did get walked by Cutter Gaithier in the build-up to the 2-1, which was judged a Grade B shot. But among the culprits on a few other Ducks chances as well. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST +0/-1.
#51 Troy Stecher, 2. Spent 11 minutes on the ice and 8 in the sin bin. A tad unlucky on a high-sticking double minor in which his follow-through was sandwiched between two opponents, cutting one of them. But was tagged again for more conventional hooking and tripping penalties later in the game as he struggled to cope with Anaheim’s pace of play. Fortunately his teammates were able to kill off all 8 minutes. Was on the ice for 2 goals against, including allowing a key pass on the 3-3. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST 0.
#90 Corey Perry, 4. Got smoked by Radko Gudas early in the game. Absolutely nothing happening offensively, with 0 shots and 0 contributions to Grade A’s. A couple of iffy moments in his own end, notably a dreadful pass from the boards right to an opponent in the slot, though nothing resulted from the gaffe. Never the fastest, he appeared to be skating in sand during a second period shift that lasted 1:58; had five other shifts north of 55 seconds which is about 20 seconds more than ideal for the the 39-year-old. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST 0.
#92 Vasily Podkolzin, 4. Among 7 Edmonton forwards who failed to generate a single shot on net. A couple of good moments on the penalty kill, but didn’t move the needle in a meaningful way. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST 0.
#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 4. Another with nothing doing offensively. 0 shots. His best look came off a splendid McDavid feed, but by the time he dusted the puck off, looked up, picked his spot and eventually let fly, the lane was closed and the shot was blocked. His best moment was the subtle backhand outlet feed he deposited into #97’s lane. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 0.
#97 Connor McDavid, 5. Earned a pair of primary assists feeding Draisaitl on the powerplay. Had some fine chances at even strength including a couple of breakaways, but unable to finish or seemingly, to make the play on net he was attempting. Has just 1 goal in his last 8 games, though of course the apples keep on coming. In no man’s land on the 3-2. Lost a critical battle against Troy Terry on the end boards that was a major factor in Anaheim’s late game winner. Had an own-zone turnover in the build-up to the empty-netter put the cherry on top of a dash-3 afternoon. GAS: ES +3/-1; ST +3/-0.
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