The puck was dropped and a track meet ensued, a spasm of a relay race to be precise, with chaos collisions and the last team to hold on to the baton winning. That was Colorado 5-4 in an old-fashioned barn-burner of a win over the Edmonton Oilers.
The Grade A shots were 14 for Edmonton, 14 for Colorado, with the subset of 5-alarm shots 11 for the Oilers, eight for the Avs.
Connor McDavid 3. Quiet game with some major mistakes. He was -3 and earned it. Took Drai’s pass for an early 5-alamer in the deep slot. He made two mistakes on Makar’s first period goal, first chasing an Avs player behind the Avs net, then wandering in the Red Light Zone as Makar scored, neither covering a passing lane or Makar himself. Won a battle and a race with five Avs to get a first period breakaway. Failed to cut out the slot pass on the fourth Avs goal. Set up Arvidsson for a 5-alarmer late in second. Contributions/mistakes on Grade A shots (GAS): Even Strength +2/-0; Special Teams 1/1
Viktor Arvidsson, 5. Good effort, no major results, a few mistakes. Ripped a 5-alarm slotter on net late in the second. Tipped a nasty one in net on the second. GAS: ES +2/-2; ST 0/0
Zach Hyman, 3. One consequential and super bad mistake in this one. He took one of those icky o-zone hooking penalties early on and the Avs scored. Failed to cut out the pass on the Makar first period goal. A Bouch bomb exploded into him, but he still put an excellent rebound shot on net early in the second. Ripped a dangerous shot on net early in third. But his offensive turnover late in the third led to a Colorado goal rush with MacKinnon smoking in a shot and Necas smoking in a goal. GAS: ES +1/-3; ST 2/0
Leon Draisaitl, 9. Edmonton’s best player. Two goals. Brilliant pass to set up McD’s 5-alarmer early on. A moment later made a brilliant one-timer shot to score Edmonton’s first. Then came his momentous 4-on-4 goal, him breaking up the Avs rush in his own zone, then taking RNH’s past, deking, shooting, grabbing the rebound on his knees and slamming it in to tie the game 4-4. GAS: ES +4/-0; ST 2/0
Jeff Skinner, 6. Some solid passing on Perry’s second goal, Edmonton’s fourth. GAS: ES +1/10; ST 1/0
Vasili Podkolzin, 5. Quiet game, but a few good plays. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST 0/0
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. High even, more good than bad. Two assists. Sharp pass to set up Drai’s first period harpoon of a goal. He failed to take away the middle of the ice on the third Avs goal. Excellent moves along the boards to set up Drai’s second of the game. He got beat by MacKinnon, hooked him and that brought the Avs a 5-on-3 in the third. GAS: ES +3/-1; ST 1/0
Connor Brown, 5. Quiet at even strength but some good work on the PK. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST 0/0
Mattias Janmark, 7. He split the defence for a break-in 5-alarmer in the first. Along with Henrique, Nurse, Emberson, Kulak, Ekholm and Pickard, part of the successful 1:29 minutes 5-on-3 crew in the third, all of them getting a full grade bump. GAS: ES +1/-1; ST 0/0
Corey Perry, 8. We had Corey Perry doing Corey Perry things in this one. He followed up his own rebound and pounded in a goal in the first. He took a pass from Skinner and wormed his way into the slot for a second goal to make it 4-3 Avs. GAS: ES +3/-0; ST 1/0
Adam Henrique, 7. Good battle on Perry’s second goal. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST 1/0
Kasperi Kapanen, 5. Good pass on Corey Perry’s first period goal, quiet otherwise. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST 0/0
John Klingberg, 5. OK game, a few mistakes.He stickhandled in the high slot and put a trick shot on net in the first. Failed to cut out the pass on third Avs goal. GAS: ES +1/-2; ST 0/0
Darnell Nurse, 7. Solid low event game.He likely saved a goal by sprawling to block MacKinnon’s shot path to the net in first off a red hot rebound from Stuart Skinner. Put Logan O’Connor on his keister with a hard hit late in the second. Gets bonus bump for 5-on-3 defence. He kept a clean sheet at even strength on Grade A shots. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 0/0
Evan Bouchard, 3. A game for his haters. High event, some good, more not good. Bad line change on Avs’ third goal. Haunted by turnovers this season, he turned one over on his standard back pass to McDavid on the power play, with Makar scoring. Great stretch pass on Hy’s Grade A early in third. GAS: ES +3/-5; ST 1/1
Mattias Ekholm, 6. Bad line change on Avs’ third goal, same as Bouch. Part of massive PK effort in third period. GAS: ES +2/-4; ST 1/0
Brett Kulak, 8. Good pass on Corey Perry’s first period goal. Huge on PK in third, kept a clean sheet at even strength, not one major mistakes on a Grade A shot against at even strength. GAS: ES +2/-0; ST 0/0
Ty Emberson, 6. Early turnover led to Grade A shot. Screened Skinner on the first Avs goal, right through Emberson’s legs. Made a solid stretch pass to kick of the Oilers weaving attack on Perry’s goal. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST 0/1
Stuart Skinner, 3. Hmm. Some iffy goals against here. Solid saves on Parker Kelly and Nathan MacKinnon early on. He failed to seal stick and pads to the ice on MacKinnon’s first period goal. Might well have done better on the second one as well, a high slot shot by Makar. Brilliant stop on Makar with 10 seconds left in first. Little chance on the third Avs goal, but pulled after the first period.
Calvin Pickard. He had little chance on Makar’s radar-guided short-handed snipe. The Pick fought off dangerous shots from MacKinnon, Makar, MacKinnon again, then Necas on the 5-on-3. Came up huge a few minutes later off a Lehkonen slot shot. After Hy’s turnover he slammed it shut on MacKinnon yet again but had little hope on the rebound pass-and-shoot to Necas.
At the Cult of Hockey
Should Edmonton Oilers consider giving Calvin Pickard more starts?