Kraken 2, Oilers 4
Not exactly a masterpiece at Rogers Place on Monday night, but the Edmonton Oilers’ mastery of the Seattle Kraken continued with an eighth consecutive victory for the blue and orange. As was the case in Seattle at the beginning of the month, the Oilers walked away with a 4-2 win, an emtpy-net goal sealing the deal in each instance.
This one was largely decided during an exhilarating three-minute stretch in the middle of the second period in which the two teams exchanged a series of glorious scoring chances. The thrilling sequence ended with Corey Perry scoring on a clearcut breakaway off a great Darnell Nurse stretch pass to put the Oilers ahead, 3-2. From there the game became decidedly more pedestrian and the goals simply stopped coming until Mattias Ekholm doubled the lead by hitting the vacated Seattle net from 182 feet with a minute to play.
With Stu Skinner attending the birth of his second son, backup netminder Calvin Pickard took the crease and delivered a strong game in goal for the Oilers. Meanwhile Edmonton’s penalty kill came up huge in killing all four Kraken powerplays including a 70-second 3v5 which was exacerbated by two regular penalty killers being in the box. Those two things being said, the old saw about the goaltender needing to be the team’s best penalty killer was turned on its ear in that Pickard never faced a single shot on goal during the 6:50 his team was shorthanded, nor during the 1:24 Seattle had a sixth attacker either.
All of the shot and scoring chance metrics had the Oilers as slightly the better squad: in shots by 31 to 28; in expected goals by 3.76 to 3.15; in Grade A shots by 14 to 9; and in 5-alarm shots by 6 to 5. The latter two of those counts are from the Cult of Hockey‘s own video analysis, summarized in this running count.
Worth noting that Perry’s goal that produced Edmonton’s first lead of the night just before the midway point was the last 5-alarm shot of the entire game for either team, as his squad largely turned its attention to methodically shutting things down thereafter.
Player grades
#2 Evan Bouchard, 4. Another iffy game, especially when it came to handling and moving the puck. Bouchard was charged with 4 official giveaways, the most on either team, with all of them occurring in the defensive zone and one leading immediately to Vince Dunn’s goal that put Seattle ahead 2-1. Not a lot happening on the individual at the good end of the ice, even as his five-man unit (with Ekholm, Draisaitl, McDavid and Hyman) had healthy shot and possession numbers. Contributions to Grade A Shots (GAS): Even Strength +2/-3; Special Teams 0.
#13 Mattias Janmark, 6. Credited with his first goal against an actual goalie this season, his last having come 50 games ago against Sergei Bobrovsky in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Got it by going to the net front and having the puck bounce in off of him, but needless to say he’ll take it. Oilers otherwise got crushed at 5v5 on his watch, getting outshot 11-2 during his 12 minutes at the discipline. But secured a bonus grade for his fine work on the PK, during which his 2:38 led all forwards. Not only did Seattle not muster a shot, Janmark made a fine stretch pass to Kapanen for a good look the other way. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST +1/-0.
#14 Mattias Ekholm, 9. Edmonton’s best skater by some distance to these old eyes, Ekholm was all over this game in a good way, Led the team in ice time by nearly 3 minutes with a whopping 24:42 which also included a team-high 4:19 on that impeccable PK unit. Was outstanding during the 3v5 in particular with a huge shot block and a couple of important zone clearances. Moved the puck expertly, including a fine stretch pass to Draisaitl to earn the secondary assist on McDavid’s 2-2 tally. Sealed the deal himself with a rink-length shot into the empty net, his team-leading 6th shot on goal of an eventful night. GAS: ES +6/-2; ST +0/-0.
#18 Zach Hyman, 7. Held off the scoresheet but delivered a solid night’s work with 8 shot attempts including one that rang off the crossbar from close range. His biggest contribution came in the form of a shot block that prevented a certain goal. GAS: ES +3/-0; ST 0.
#19 Adam Henrique, 6. Mostly quiet, mostly steady centring Draisaitl’s usual linemates Podkolzin and Arvidsson. 1 shot, 1 hit and 6/14=43% on the faceoff dot. Bonus grade for his 2½ minutes of solid work on the PK. GAS: ES +2/-1; ST 0.
#25 Darnell Nurse, 8. Strong behind the blueline with zero defensive mistakes by our count, 2½ solid minutes of his own on the PK, and a brilliant 120-foot stretch pass to Perry for the game-winning breakaway goal. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST +1/-0.
#27 Brett Kulak, 5. Caught on the wrong side of the play on the first Seattle goal, and didn’t help matters by barreling into his own goaltender. Had a couple of other issues, though he salvaged his night with his own 2½ minutes of PK work. Made a hugely important clear of a rebound that looked to be a certain goal. GAS: ES +2/-4; ST 0.
#28 Connor Brown, 5. Brutal turnover at the offensive blueline led directly to the first Kraken goal. Made up for it by earning the primary assist on the 1-1, when his well-timed shot from the left circle banked in off of Janmark. A plus for his solid 2 minutes on the PK, but a minus for the o-zone tripping penalty he took on that same unit to put his team down 2 men. Add it all up and he gets an average grade if an unusually high-event one for the generally reliable checker. GAS: ES +1/-2; ST +0/-1.
#29 Leon Draisaitl, 7. Most dangerous on his first shift, which coincided with Edmonton’s one and only pwoerplay of the night. Rang the post with one wicked drive and forced a tough save from Joey Daccord with another. Earned the primary assist on McDavid’s goal with a perfectly timed feed that found the speedster in full stride. Hit the iron a second time with a high backhand shot from a low angle late in the second. 8 shot attempts, but 3 giveaways. GAS: ES +6/-1; ST +2/-0.
#30 Calvin Pickard, 8. The Curse of the Second Shot persisted as we was once again beaten by the second shot of the game for seemingly the umpteenth time this season. Circumstances beyond his control, as he had virtually no chance to stop Eeli Tolvanaen’s rebound deposit after getting knocked on his keester by his own teammate. Beaten again late in the first on another weird one when Vince Dunn’s outside blast caught the shaft of McDavid’s stick, deflected downward and took a double bounce off the ice, the second of which took a high hop and beat him stick side. Slammed the door hard after that luckless start, especially in the second period when he turned aside 6x Grade A’s including 3x 5 alarms, with all of the latter occurring in a 90-second span just before Perry finally gave Edmonton the lead. His 9th win in his last 10 starts. 28 shots, 26 saves, .929 save percentage, +1.15 Goals Saved Above Average.
#33 Viktor Arvidsson, 5. Industrious as usual but precious little to show for it. Struggled to handle the puck cleanly for the second game in a row. Mustered 8 shot attempts to tie for the team lead, though just 2 were on goal. Took an o-zone tripping penalty early in the third period which was unhelpful though not costly. GAS: +2/-0; ST 0.
#42 Kasperi Kapanen, 6. Decent at even strength, he too gets a bonus grade for his fine work in 2:15 on the PK. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST +1/-0.
#48 Noah Philp, 5. Played 8:42, all at even strength, with 1 shot (a decent backhand effort from close range), 1 hit, and 3/4=75% on the dot. A small step, but in the right direction. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 0.
#49 Ty Emberson, 6. Got puckwatching on the first goal rather than picking up the trailer, who promptly found the rebound and scored. Otherwise had a good night behind his own blueline, including a couple of crucial clears of dangerous rebounds and a bulletproof 4:12 on the penalty kill. Led the team outright in both hits (4) and blocks (3), though he did have 3 giveaways as well. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST 0.
#51 Troy Stecher, 5. Played 13:36, all at evens, and lived to tell about it . Struggled at times to move the puck out of his end, with 3 official giveaways and a few pass attempts that went nowhere. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST 0.
#90 Corey Perry, 6. Part of the problem on the second Kraken goal by screening his own netminder, though that wicked deflection might not have been stopped in any event. Came through with the game-winning goal when he got loose behind an inattentive Seattle defence to take Nurse’s splendid pass to walk in alone, then outwait Daccord and slip the puck between his legs when the netminder went for the pokecheck. GAS: ES +1/-1; ST 0.
#92 Vasily Podkolzin, 6. Low-key grinding game with 1 shot, 1 block, 1 hit and 0 problems. He too earns a bonus grade for his contributions on the PK (1:46). GAS: ES +1/-0; ST 0.
#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. His nifty pass to Brown in the o-zone earned him a secondary assist on Janmark’s goal. Made a terrific pass to Draisaitl on the PP which the German rang off the post. His hustle on the backcheck hurried Chandler Stephenson into shooting wide on an early breakaway. Surprisingly, of the 6 Oilers forwards who contributed to the PK, Nuge’s 1:10 was the least by some distance, in part because he was himself in the box for the 3v5. GAS: ES +1/-2; ST +1/-0.
#97 Connor McDavid, 7. Returned to the line-up with gusto, his plus speed frequently on display even as his puckhandling showed signs of rust at times. Drew a penalty in the first shift, then helped set up Draisaitl for a pair of dangerous shots on the subsequent PP. Unlucky on the 2-1 when he got a piece of Dunn’s outside shot which then caromed crazily on goal. Found the scoresheet in the second when he took Draisaitl’s pass and streaked in on net, cashing his own rebound to tie the game at 2-2. Led the team with 6/9=67% on the dot. GAS: ES+5/-3; ST +2/-0.
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