Player grades: Oilers finally beat Jets, led by Koski, Pulju and a touch of Drai - Edmonton Journal

Minggu, 03 Oktober 2021

Player grades: Oilers finally beat Jets, led by Koski, Pulju and a touch of Drai - Edmonton Journal

Author of the article:

Bruce McCurdy • Edmonton Journal

Edmonton Oilers goaltender Mikko Koskinen (19) makes a save on Winnipeg Jets forward Jansen Harkins (12) at Rogers Place on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021. Photo by Perry Nelson /USA Today Sports

Jets 3, Oilers 4

It was an entertaining but sloppy affair on Saturday night, as the Edmonton Oilers did just enough to get by their recent nemesis, the Winnipeg Jets, by a 4-3 count in regulation.

A preseason win is hardly a case of revenge served cold, but no doubt the 15,206 fans in attendance at Rogers Place will take it after their club had lost their previous five straight meetings.

The Oilers had plenty of defensive zone breakdowns, especially in the first 10 and last 10 minutes of action, but a strong performance by Mikko Koskinen kept them in it long enough for the big guns to get going at the good end of the ice.

Overall the Jets had the better of the play to my eye, and the Oilers won on account of having better goaltending, and perhaps better puck luck. According to Natural Stat Trick Winnipeg held a 34-27 edge on the shot clock and a 15-11 bulge in High Danger chances, with those margins being 34-23 and 15-8 at 5v5. Koskinen was very good.

Player grades

#5 Cody Ceci, 4. He was mostly fine when the puck was on his stick and/or outside of Oilers territory, but he had a tough night in his own end. Got owned behind the net leading to a couple of great chances by Kristian Reichel. He and his partner Lagesson were both caught high in the defensive zone on the 3-3 tally, and got precious little help from the “covering” forwards. He did make a sharp lead pass that keyed the zone entry on Puljujarvi’s 3-1 tally.

#8 Kyle Turris, 4. Playing a less defensively challenging position now, but still struggling when the other guys have the puck. His weak pass around the boards and ill-advised line change with the puck still in Edmonton territory contributed directly to the first Winnipeg goal, even as he avoided the richly-deserved dash-1 on the play. Then his poor slot coverage contributed to the breakdown on the Reichel chance. Looked good moving the puck on the cycle in the o-zone at times, firing 1 hard shot off a 3-way passing play. Crushed it on the (strong-side) dot with 7/8=88%.

#13 Jesse Puljujarvi, 7. Made a big defensive play to cover off Broberg and break up a Connor-to-Ehlers slot pass that had “goal” written all over it. Credited with the first Oilers’ goal while in the act of (perfectly) screening Eric Comrie, when Draisaitl’s outside shot glanced off him and found a corner. Took McDavid’s pass breaking in to the o-zone, saw his space, took a full windup and blasted a slapshot past Comrie for the 3-1. Made a strong play on the puck to maintain possession and set up a Drai one-timer. An “8”-worthy performance until he blew the defensive zone allowing his man Declan Chisholm to get behind him and create the goal that got Winnipeg back in the game. Maybe a good gamble if behind by 2 in the back half of the third, but not if ahead. He’s still learning, and I imagine he can count on having a friendly coach to help him along.

#14 Devin Shore, 6. Centred Perlini and Turris, a trio that has persisted since the beginning of camp. They generated some decent pressure on an extended possession that eventually led to an outside shot. But that threesome spent a fair bit of time hemmed in their own end, judging both by eye and by their shot shares in the low-30s. Came out ahead on the big board, Shore himself scoring the 2-1 from the high slot with an excellent deflection of Perlini’s outside shot. A very good shift on the Oilers only penalty kill of the night. Made a good defensive play to clean up a Bouchard turnover.

#19 Mikko Koskinen, 8. After a bit of a slow start he was the man most responsible for keeping the Oilers close in a sloppy opening frame. Stopped his very first shot but the rebound was converted into a goal mouth pass that Kyle Connor buried. Made a couple of big stops moments later off Kristian Reichel as the defence again broke down around him. Robbed Jeff Malott twice from the edge of the crease. Mistimed a shootaround reaching the trapezoid, very nearly costing him an embarrassing goal in the last minute of the first. His team finally got him some goal support but left him on his own on occasion, and Mikko kept rising to it. His full-stretch emergency glove save off Jansen Harkins was the best of the lot (see pic up top). Gave up a rapid-fire pair to tie it in the third, was the sixth-most culpable Oiler on both. We’re not tracking them in the preseason, but I’d bet at least half of the shots he faced were Grade A scoring chances. 34 shots, 31 saves.

#23 Seth Griffth, 4. Fired one excellent angled shot through traffic that tested Eric Comrie. A bit late recognizing the danger when his man Josh Morrissey slipped behind him (and the whole rest of the team) to net the 3-3. Soon Bakersfield-bound, I reckon.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 6. Paired with Bouchard and the duo were not on the same page at times. Lost two separate battles on the first goal, one along the wall, one in the slot. Got into trouble on a routine 2-on-2 when he tried to cover Bouchard’s man rather than his own, Koskinen to the rescue. Earned a secondary assist teeing up the 2-1 after himself taking Bouchard’s crisp cross-ice feed. Far from an error free night, but against a tough opponent with an unfamiliar partner he played 29:38, led the D in all 6 ice time categories, with 6 shot attempts, 2 hits and 2 takeaways all topping the D corps as well. Not quite the 62:07 he logged last time he played Winnipeg, but holy moly does Dave Tippett rely on this man.

#29 Leon Draisaitl, 7. Slow start like so many teammates, exemplified by a brutal offside play with Kassian on what seemed to have been a promising 2-on-2. On the backtrack he deflected one Jets slot pass right on Koskinen, then cleaned up the rebound, reset, calmly fed Broberg for the counterattack and went for the change. Outside powerplay wrister into traffic found paydirt when it ricocheted off Puljujarvi and in. Made a terrific effort with a between-the-legs shot that was entirely appropriate to the circumstance and very nearly worked. A couple of stray passes which Tippett criticized in the post game avail. But his pure class shone through at the best possible moment, tie-score-2-minutes-left-in-regulation when Leon stole the puck off his old friend Neal Pionk in the neutral zone, gained the zone, drew a couple checkers, waited for the lane to develop, then fired a seeing-eye backhand pass right on Nuge’s tape for the burial. Just like that the Oilers had the lead again, this time for keeps. 2 primary assists, 2 shots, 2 giveaways, that 1 key takeaway, and 13/21=62% on the dot while leading all Oilers forwards with 21:46 ice time. Put differently: just another night at the office for the Big Diesel.

#37 Warren Foegele, 6. Got a chance to play on McDavid’s line. Weak backhand pass turned an Oilers possession into a Jets jailbreak. Nice aerial feed to McDavid for a close-in chance. Drew the powerplay that resulted in the 1-1. Secondary assist on the 3-1, when he did the exact right thing and gave the puck to McDavid. One fine defensive play protecting the slot, but beaten in that same area on the 3-2. Physical, 2 hits, a quasi-scrum, a bit of attitude. Not his best game I don’t suppose, but I see a lot to like in this player.

#42 Brendan Perlini, 5. Didn’t score a goal for the first time in 4 preseason games, but did the next best thing when his outside shot was tipped home by Shore. Spent much of the night trapped in own end, with his 2 giveaways not helping in the possession game either.

#44 Zack Kassian, 5. Was caught out on the first goal when he waited in place for a slow pass around the boards to reach him rather than skating towards the puck to make a play on it. A hustling Jet beat him to it and bad things ensued. Later in the first did some excellent physical work deep in his own territory to break up a Jets cycle, key the breakout and, then stir things up at points north. 5 hits to lead both teams.

#70 Colton Sceviour, 4. Night got off to a bad start when he lost his man in the slot early in his first shift, and Kyle Connor took advantage to fire home the opening goal. Moderately effective cycling the puck in the offensive zone, eventually generating a weak shot from close range. But he was again caught out on d-zone coverage on the 3-3 when somehow all five Oilers on the ice allowed two Jets and the puck to get behind them. A well-deserved -2

#71 Ryan McLeod, 4. He only deserved half of his own -2, as he was the victim of Turris’ ill-timed line change and could only ever get as close as “also in frame”. But he lost the plot entirely on the 3-3 when, with both defencemen trapped on the same boards at the top of the circle, decided to loop away from the low slot, a vacancy Josh Morrissey was happy to fill. Again didn’t create much at the good end of the ice. 4/8=50% on the dot.

#75 Evan Bouchard, 4. Paired with Nurse, not always successfully. Some iffy coverage by the pair on the first Jets goal, with Bouchard getting pulled to the side without ever really challenging the puck carrier. A few other questionable defensive decisions/executions. Made a nice cross-ice pass to Nurse in the build-up to the 2-1 goal. Stood up for himself in a third period scrum and viewed the game winner, scored 4-on-4, from the sin bin. Played 24:42 with 5 shot attempts, 4 giveaways and some critical words from his coach.

"Mikko was excellent. We were red rotten in front of him." — Dave Tippett.
He wasn’t impressed with Evan Bouchard’s defensive work tonight. He said it was an outlier compared to the other games, adding Bouchard needs to get stronger and tougher around the net.
— Daniel Nugent-Bowman (@DNBsports) October 3, 2021

#81 Filip Berglund, 5. Quietly effective in 15 minutes of 0-0 hockey. Good defensive stick.

#84 William Lagesson, 3. Unable to contain his man below the goal line and allowed a dangerous slot pass that Koskinen cleaned up. Gone fishing on the Oilers one penalty of the night, when it fell to Kassian to clean up the mess. Did have a good clear on the subsequent PK. Was burned for goals on consecutive shifts in the third, getting caught high above the puck on both. He and Ceci were had a shot share of 30%, allowing 1 shot per minute at 5v5. Lagesson’s own stat line: 15:45 TOi, 0 shot attempts, 0 hits, 2 blocks, -1. The walls may be closing in.

#86 Philip Broberg, 5. Had a very tough start but recovered thereafter. The hit-magnet got hammered high and hard during the early powerplay. Completely whiffed on a puck deep in Winnipeg territory leading to a jailbreak. Lost at sea on a fast rush by Connor and Ehlers, taking neither a man nor a lane. But started to move his feet and the puck as the game went on. Impressed on one sequence with a pair of excellent defensive stops in rapid succession, then led the breakout. 3 shots on goal at one end, 3 shot blocks at the other, and no goals against on his watch.

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. Buried the game winner with a quick wrist shot, then professed to not being surprised by the fabulous Draisaitl pass that set him up. That sounds like the key to future success. Had 5 shot attempts to lead all forwards. Asleep at the switch on a fine Evgeny Svechnikov chance, and lost a d-zone battle leading to another Jets look.

#97 Connor McDavid, 7. His game has such quality that shines through even during an average performance like this one. So many elite handles of the puck over the course of a game. In this one he earned a pair of assists on straightforward passes high in the slot, though on the first of them his prior lap of the o-zone cleared space for Draisaitl’s outside shot that Puljujarvi deflected. Marginally culpable on the 3-2 when the Oilers forwards as a group failed to defend their slot. 0 shots on goal in 20:29 TOi, but a Borg-like 7 of 9 on the dot.

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