Oilers 4, Blackhawks 3 (OT)
For the second night in a row, Edmonton Oilers needed overtime to prevail in the American midwest, and for the second night in a row they got the job done in the extra session.
The clearly tiring squad allowed a 3-1 lead to slip away in the final 8 minutes of regulation, and very nearly lost it to 31st place Chicago when Oiler killer Teuvo Teravainen’s floater caught the crossbar with 5 second left in regulation. The Oil then caught another break in overtime when the Blackhawks were tagged for too many men on the ice, and a powerplay that had a terrible time of it in 3 regulation chances needed just 18 seconds to put this one to bed, Zach Hyman doing the honours in converting a Connor McDavid pass from the doorstep to secure both points.
Coach Kris Knoblauch shuffled up the line combos, and one of the new trios found some immediate chemistry, namely Leon Draisaitl between Jeff Skinner and Vasily Podkolzin. Draisaitl and Skinner each scored on a primary assist from the other. Draisaitl’s goal and assist were enough to slide past Nathan MacKinnon and into first place in the NHL scoring race with 81 points in 54 games.
It was a sloppy affair played on sloppy ice. The Oilers outshot the Blackhawks 38-32 and held a 21-14 edge in the Cult of Hockey’s video analysis of Grade A shots (running count). That said, they were pretty lucky to get out of Dodge with two points.
Player grades
#2 Evan Bouchard, 6. 3 shots, 3 giveaways in a mixed bag of a performance, though more good than bad on this night. Made a fine outlet pass to kick off the five-way passing play on the 2-1. Attempted another outlet pass that went awry, resulting in a 2-on-0 breakaway for the Hawks, though Pickard rose to the occasion. A couple of good zone entry denials. Drew one penalty directly, and his aggressive stretch pass to Draisaitl played a huge role in the too-many-men infraction in OT. Earned a secondary assist on the subsequent game winner. Contributions to Grade A Shots (GAS): Even Strength +3/-2; Speical Teams +1/-0.
#13 Mattias Janmark, 6. Seconds after he was stopped on a breakaway, made a fine followup play to feed the puck to Arvidsson in a dangerous spot, who promptly picked the top corner to put Edmonton up 1-0. Not his cleanest defensive game, and was among the 4 men beaten on Chicago’s powerplay goal that cut EDM’s lead to 3-2. Sad fact is the Oil haven’t killed a single penalty in the last 3 games, allowing 4 goals in 4 opportunities over that span. GAS: ES +3/-2; ST +0/-1.
#14 Mattias Ekholm, 4. The whole team looked a bit weary on Wednesday, nobody moreso than the 34-year-old Swede who may still be dealing with the lingering effects of an illness that has caused him to miss a game and several practices in the last while. Seemed a step behind for much of the night. His inability to clear the puck on the PK proved costly. Did make a good defensive stop when he tipped a Connor Bedard shot into the netting. GAS: ES +0/-4; ST +0/-2.
#18 Zach Hyman, 6. He too seemed a bit off his game. Had one decent shot from the slot in the second, but was among the five-man d-zone fail on the 3-3. Redeemed himself and his mates by connecting for the game winner in the abbreviated extra frame. GAS: ES +1/-1; ST +1/-0.
#19 Adam Henrique, 6. Played a decent two-way game. Fired a couple of tricky one-timers on net in the third. 5/7=71% on the faceoff dot. GAS: ES +4/-0; ST 0.
#25 Darnell Nurse, 6. Workhorse rearguard led the team in time on ice (25:14), shifts (26), shots (6), shot attempts (10), hits (2) and blocked shots (4). Absolutely robbed by Arvid Soderblom’s sliding blocker save. Alas, all that ice time may have caught up with him in the late going when he made a bad decision to take the puck back into his own territory, where it remained for the next 30 seconds before the Blackhawks produced the 3-3 goal. GAS: ES +2/-3; ST 0.
#27 Brett Kulak, 6. Played just 16:00, his lowest total since the opening fortnight of the season. Kept things tidy for the most part, give or take a glaring turnover where the puck got chipped off his stick behind the net right into the defensive slot, fortunately the subsquent shot didn’t get through. Earned a secondary assist on Arvidsson’s goal. 3 shots, 1 hit, 1 block. GAS: ES +2/-1; ST 0.
#28 Connor Brown, 5. Fairly typical game from the responsible winger, with little of high danger occurring at either end of the ice. GAS: ES +2/-1; ST 0.
#29 Leon Draisaitl, 8. High event game with much more good than bad. Made a superb pass to Skinner for a rapid-fire trio of great chances. Then made another sweet dish to Nurse for another great chance. Finally found the range in the third when he again set up Skinner for the 2-1, then extended that lead when he pounded home his league-leading 38th off a fine Skinner feed. Made a couple of strong defensive plays on the backtrack, though he had a couple of bad moments in his own zone as well. Came oh-so-close to restoring Edmonton’s lead within seconds of the tying goal, but was thwarted by Soderblom. 3 shots, 2 takeaways. 1 drawn penalty and a team best 13/20=65% on the dot. GAS: ES +10/-4; ST +1/-0.
#30 Calvin Pickard, 7. Ho hum, another game, another win. Make it 10 W’s in his last 11 starts for the well-traveled backstop. Made a number of solid saves along the way, notably a great stop off Patrick Maroon on a two-man breakaway. Not much chance on the first 2 goals against, both deflections. The third goal was more problematic, a hard drive to be sure but it seemed to go right through him. Saved by the iron twice in the last 3 minutes of regulation. 32 shots, 29 saves, .906 save percentage, -0.06 Goals Saved Above Expected.
#33 Viktor Arvidsson, 6. One of the more energetic Oilers on this night. Buried a great snipe into the short side to open the scoring early in the second period, the best of his 4 shots on net. His inability to clear the d-zone under heavy pressure played a role in the 3-3. GAS: ES +5/-1; ST 0.
#36 John Klingberg, 6. On the ice for all 3 Oilers goals at even strength and none against. Directly involved in one of those when he took Bouchard’s outlet pass in the neutral zone, then found Podkolzin on the opposite wing to enter the zone and kick off the scoring play. The dreaded “third assist” on the play but a key part of the sequence. Had a couple of adventures behind his own blueline. GAS: ES +1/-1; ST 0.
#42 Kasperi Kapanen, 4. Quiet game other than one dreadful mistake when he lost his man on a routine 3-on-3 rush in the dying seconds of the middle frame, with the tying 1-1 goal directly resulting from the gaffe. Didn’t get benched as coach Knoblauch apparently concluded his tiring troops needed all hands on deck, but played just 1:58 in the third and 9:46 on the night, the only Oiler in single digits. Did muster 3 shots on net, though nothing dangerous. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST 0.
#49 Ty Emberson, 4. Going through a bit of a rough patch just now. Made a couple of nice stretch passes leading to decent chances, but spent too much of the game in his own end (shot attempts +8/-16). . Among the culprits on both Chicago goals in the late going. Allowed the powerplay deflection on the 3-2. Didn’t move the puck quickly enough in his own end and got swarmed, leading to the 3-3. GAS: ES +3/-2; ST +0/-1.
#53 Jeff Skinner, 8. Deservedly promoted to the top six on a line with Draisaitl and Podkolzin, and made the most of his chance. Nearly scored off of one great Draisaitl setup only to be robbed by a pair of terrific Soderblom saves, then the goalpost. But made no mistake when again set up by Leon in the opening moments of the third, making a nice move across the face of goal to beat Soderblom with a backhand shot. Minutes later jumped on a loose puck and slipped it through to Draisaitl, who scored the 3-1. No standout plays on defence this game, but no problems either. GAS: ES +6/-0; ST +1/-0.
#90 Corey Perry, 5. One early chance which he couldn’t bury, then not a whole lot. Didn’t appear to have a lot of jump in his step, played just 10:11. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST 0.
#92 Vasily Podkolzin, 6. Earned a secondary assist on the 2-1 by gaining the zone and getting the puck to Draisaitl. Played a smaller role on the 3-1 by momentarily disrupting the breakout and helping to force the turnover. But his hard charge to the net later in the third resulted in a goalie interference penalty 170 feet from his own net. Edmonton’s only infraction of the night led to the powerplay tally that sparked Chicago’s late comeback. A bit unlucky in that he absorbed some contact himself before careening into Soderblom, but the safer play would have been to take it behind the net to work the cycle and the clock. 0 shot attempts, 2 hits. GAS: ES +5/-0; ST 0.
#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 4. Played just 15:46, low for him, without a lot to show for it. 1 shot, 1 giveaway, and 1 faceoff win in 5 attempts (20%). One of the culprits on the failed penalty kill, allowing a key pass. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST +0/-1.
#97 Connor McDavid, 5. Exhibited little of the magic that had made him so dominant at St. Louis the night before. He and the powerplay were out of sync in 3 regulation chances, and not a lot was happening at evens either. Had some struggles defensively as well, posting a -2 on the night including direct involvement on the 3-3. In overtime he was unable to produce a shot on a partial breakaway, while he and Bouchard overpassed the puck on a 3-on-1 resulting in no shot that time either. One (rather important) thing that did echo the night before? McD again collected the primary assist on the overtime winner, this time with a slick feed to Hyman on the lip of the crease for the tap-in. Proving once again, it’s hard to keep a good man down. GAS: ES +3/-4; ST +2/-0.
Recently at the Cult of Hockey
STAPLES: Embattled Oilers ace gets votes of confidence
LEAVINS: Game grades in win over Blues
STAPLES: Some Central Canada Pundits see some holes in the Edmonton Oilers
LEAVINS: 9 Things, Feb 02 edition
McCURDY: Cult of Hockey Player Grades, Edmonton Oilers Games 41-50
and on Bluesky Social @brucemccurdy.bsky.social
Follow me on X-Twitter @BruceMcCurdy
and on Bluesky Social @brucemccurdy.bsky.social