Article content
Flames 1, Oilers 7
Calgary Flames came up the QE2 for their rematch against the Edmonton Oilers chomping at the bit to put Friday night’s lacklustre showing in the rear view. In a much more spirited affair, the visitors came out hot, playing a physical brand of hockey that sent a couple of Oilers down the tunnel.
The Flames largely dominated the possession battle. What they didn’t dominate, was the scoreboard. The marginal hits that put at early end to the nights of Slater Koekkoek and Kailer Yamamoto sent a couple of Flames to the sin bin where both would pay the price for their sins. The Oilers punished the Flames in the best way possible after each of those borderline hits and added a third powerplay tally for good measure.
The Oilers scored early and often, led by an other-worldly performance by their leading light. Connor McDavid earned primary assists on the first two Edmonton tallies, then scored the next three himself to send Calgary netminder Jacob Markstrom on his own one-way trip down the tunnel after being beaten for 5 goals on 15 shots in just 28 minutes of work. Edmonton’s foot soldiers took care of the rest, tacking on 2 more goals against Flames #2 stopper David Rittich to stretch it out to 7-1.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
At the other end of the sheet, Mikko Koskinen stood tall in front of the Edmonton cage, stopping 43 Calgary shots. Koskinen gave up just the single goal, and that a dubious one when he was pushed into his net by Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk to cut the Oilers’ lead to 2-1. Dave Tippett’s challenge for goaltender interference was denied, but Koskinen and friends killed off the subsequent delay of game penalty and carried on frustrating every Flames’ flicker the rest of the way.
The weekend sweep of their provincial rivals boosted Edmonton’s hold on second place in the North Division by raw points, fourth by points percentage, and created some critical separation between themselves and the bottom three. The Oil have now won 9 of their last 11 to turn what had been a shaky 3-6-0 start into a much more impressive 12-8-0 through 20 games.
Player grades
#4 Kris Russell, 6. Edmonton’s resident master of the bend-but-don’t-break game was on the receiving end of a one sided shot share (6 for, 16 against), but fended off every serious threat and somehow wound up +2 on the night. Earned an assist when he made an aggressive keep-in and smartly sent the puck back to McDavid to look after the rest. A second consecutive 20-minute outing for the 33-year-old, who saw most of his action at even strength.
#6 Adam Larsson, 8. Just a monster game from the surly Swede, who mashed, bashed and crashed every Flame that dared to enter his territory — which is to say, anywhere from the defensive slot to the end wall to the corners. Officially credited with 10 hits on the night (a season high for any Oiler), Larsson made Tkachuk his personal project, crunching the Flames ringleader on 3 different occasions. 2 takeaways, 2 blocked shots, and countless battles of various types. Played a heavy 24:11 right on top of Friday night’s 24:10.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
#13 Jesse Puljujarvi, 6. Quiet but effective. Officially no points and no shot attempts, but won his share of board battles and landed a couple of hits, including a crunching one on fellow Finn Juuso Valimaki.
#15 Josh Archibald, 7. Played a season-high 18:15 and contributed in all aspects. Led the forwards with 5:02 on the penalty kill and did some fine work winning battles, intercepting passes, and clearing the puck. 2 hits, 1 takeaway, 2 blocked shots. 3 shots to co-lead the team including the game’s final goal while filling in for the injured Yamamoto on the Draisaitl line.
#16 Jujhar Khaira, 6. Stepped up to challenge Sam Bennett after the pugnacious Flame had ended Koekkoek’s night with a high hit, and to my eye got the better of the spirited tilt. Thereafter played a solid two-way game that included an assist at even strength and 3 minutes of effective penalty-killing. 5/15=33% on the dot was his one weak spot.
#18 James Neal, 6. Did some good work in the high-traffic areas on the powerplay, and earned an assist on that unit as he was among three Oilers who combined to win a puck battle just inside the Calgary blueline leading to the 6-1 tally. Zero shots of his own.
#19 Mikko Koskinen, 9. Faced a ton of rubber all night long as Calgary outshot the Oilers 44-24. Put up a flesh-and-blood wall in front of the Edmonton cage, stopping everything he could see and a couple more he couldn’t. Was only beaten when literally pushed into his own net by Tkachuk. Got his revenge by stopping all 7 drives the Flames pest fired his way, a couple of real fine stops among them. Robbed Milan Lucic with a reflexive glove stop. 44 shots, 43 saves, .977 save percentage.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
#20 Slater Koekkoek, incomplete. Didn’t survive his first shift when he absorbed a high hit from Sam Bennett that sent him down the tunnel with an upper body injury after just 14 seconds of action. Whether head or shoulder related is unknown. The penalty he drew did produce the goal that put the Oilers ahead to stay.
#21 Dominik Kahun, 6. Had a couple of decent scoring chances, although he made a strange play on one of them when he took the puck behind the goal line while apparently deciding what to do with it, then tried to come back to stuff it in the short side. Jumped into a 2-on-1 with Draisaitl but the pass didn’t make it through. Earned an assist on the last goal with a sharp head-man pass to Archibald at the attacking blue line.
#22 Tyson Barrie, 7. Scaled back on the ice time, playing just under 20 minutes after Firday night’s 25 and change. That included just 3:41 in the third when the game was in the bag. Earned an assist when his smart point shot was tipped home by McDavid for the crucial 3-1 goal. 6 shot attempts, 2 blocks, 3 giveaways but also 3 takeaways to lead the team in that latter category.
#25 Darnell Nurse, 8. Played over half the game for second night in a row, this time extending it to a massive 32:52 = the most of any NHLer so far this season. A tower of power, exhibiting a growing sense of calmness with the puck on his stick which is an essential quality when munching minutes at that magnitude. Earned 2 more assists to move into a tie for second among NHL rearguards with 16 points. The first was a good clearance from his own net front to McDavid, which he followed by joining the rush and making a key stick lift on a Calgary defender deep in Flames territory that enabled McD to recover the disc and make the telling pass to RNH. Set up Nuge’s second goal directly with a soft pass from the blueline to a very good spot. 4 shot attempts, 3 hits, 3 blocks. +2 on the night to move to +13 on the season, tied with Draisaitl for the team lead. Played a massive 6:47 on the PK. It was he who pushed Tkachuk into (the general direction of) Koskinen for the lone Flames goal, otherwise he’d have graded a 9.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
#29 Leon Draisaitl, 7. Made a terrific hustle play behind the net to win a 30/70 puck and restart the cycle that eventually led to the 1-0 goal. Earned an assist on that sequence, and a later one for leading a 3-man rush on the game’s final tally. Led the forwards with 22:56 and looked tired at times. Was generous to a fault, 3 times passing the disc from what seemed to be excellent shooting position, and ended the nigh with no shots of his own. 4 giveaways but also 2 takeaways, both of which led the team. 8/16=50% on the dot. Even on nights he’s less than his best he can make a significant positive impact.
#39 Alex Chiasson, 7. Opened the scoring by jamming a great McDavid pass home from his office at the lip of the crease, his first powerplay goal of the season. Later went back to his usual business of screening the goalie on McDavid’s deflection from the slot. Not much going on at even strength on his watch, but he was strong defensively as per usual and managed to saw off his minutes. Played 14:22 overall. One of 3 Oilers on the night with a 100% shooting percentage; among them he, RNH and McDavid netted 6 goals on 6 shots!
#56 Kailer Yamamoto, 6. Played just 8:48 before leaving the game after being sandwiched by Calgary’s Elias Lindholm and Buddy Robinson, with the latter nailing him in the side of the head with an elbow that to my eye was more reactive than deliberate. The original hit in the numbers by Lindholm was a significant blow in its own right, but it was the second impact that likely sent him to the quiet room. No telling whether he’s actually hurt or his non-return was just precautionary. Before he left he had a couple of nice passes and a good hit on Mark Giordano.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
#63 Tyler Ennis, 6. Fairly effective back in a third line role with 2 shots and 4 hits. He’s a small guy but not at all reluctant to join the fray.
#75 Evan Bouchard, 6. Played a respectable 18:28, with over half of it (9:59) coming in the final frame with the game in the bag. Saw action in all three disciplines. A couple of turnovers, a bunch of good passes.
#91 Gaetan Haas,6. Played a solid 14:18 including over 5 minutes on combined special teams. The greater, more important share of that was 3:42 on the PK, where he continues to excel after not getting much chance to participate in that discipline — one of his specialties in the Swiss League — last season. Led the Oilers forwards in faceoffs taken (8/18=44%), and, rather surprisingly, in hits with 7. Drew a penalty that led to a goal.
#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 8. Buried a pair of well-placed wrist shots from the right face-off circle, one on each Calgary goalie. Also earned an assist on McDavid’s first of the night to complete a 3-point night. Played 4:04 on the powerplay (3 GF) and 3:42 on the penalty kill (1 GA), but saw his even strength minutes greatly curtailed, to barely 9 minutes. Played just 1 shift in the game’s final 12 minutes, reappearing just at that moment I was starting to worry that he too might have been nicked up. But no, that was simply Dave Tippett looking after his key players on a night their damage had long since been done.
#97 Connor McDavid, 10. Completely took over the hockey game and effectively ended it before the midway point. By that point he had merely scored (primary) points on all 5 Oilers tallies and goals on all 3 of his own shots, almost single-handedly sending Markstrom to the proverbial showers. It was not just the quantity of that production but the quality that left an indelible impression.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
- After looping high in the offensive zone with some fancy skating he made a killer pass to Chiasson at the edge of the crease for the redirect.
- Next came a seeing-eye pass to Nuge that left his trusty sidekick both time and space to make the deposit, this after McDavid initiated the sequence from deep in his own territory with a puck recovery and solo zone exit at speed.
- A mid-air deflection from the slot broke a 6-game goalless skein and more importantly restored Oilers 2-goal lead late in the first, this after a nifty backhand pass through traffic earlier in the cycle.
- Made a sublime solo effort early in the second when he stole the puck from Noah Hanifin in the neutral zone, kicked it up to himself, looked pass all the way as he stickhandled the disc at the approximate rate of a hummingbird’s wings, then fired a wrist shot through Markstrom without ever once looking at the net.
- Completed the natural hat trick with another beauty, this time coming out from behind the goal, turning Bennett to stone with a dazzling display of dangling, all the while picking and ultimately hitting his spot just inside the far post.
Just at the point I was thinking “the game’s not half over and he’s already halfway to Darryl Sittler and Jim Harrison’s record!” he may have been concluding, “my work here is done”. On a night the team had a number of players running on fumes, establishing that early cushion was vital, rendering the whole last half of the game an afterthought. He was himself among the beneficiaries of an extended breather down the stretch, logging just 17:33 overall. His 6/9=67% led the club on the dot while the rest of his stat line isn’t particularly impressive other than that one part that says “3-2-5, +3”.
Recently at the Cult of Hockey
Follow me on Twitter @BruceMcCurdy
https://news.google.com/__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?oc=5
2021-02-21 11:06:03Z
52781389256549
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar