Player grades: Draisaitl, Koskinen lead the way as sloppy Oilers slide by Seattle - Edmonton Journal

Selasa, 02 November 2021

Player grades: Draisaitl, Koskinen lead the way as sloppy Oilers slide by Seattle - Edmonton Journal

Author of the article:

Bruce McCurdy • Edmonton Journal

Leon Draisaitl overpowers yet another opponent, this time Seattle Kraken's Jeremy Lauzon. Photo by Perry Nelson /USA Today Sports

Kraken 2, Oilers 5

It was a sloppy affair at Rogers Place on Monday night as Edmonton Oilers officially welcomed Seattle Kraken for the first regular season game between the two sides. Thanks in large part to a four-point night from Leon Draisaitl and a strong netminding performance by Mikko Koskinen, the Oilers emerged with a 5-2 win on Indigenous Celebration Night.

After Draisaitl scored the first two Oilers goals, three different players each notched their first of the season as Duncan Keith, Kyle Turris and Kailer Yamamoto each scored from close range. Keith’s first ever goal for any other team than Chicago Blackhawks came in his 1200th career game and stood up as the game winner.

Despite playing their second game of a back-to-back, the Kraken controlled play for long stretches, winning a ton of puck battles and hemming the Oilers in their own end. The Oil didn’t help their own cause with some poor decision-making and execution. Seattle outshot Edmonton 29-23 on the night, which sounds fairly low-event, but a high percentage of shots by both teams were dangerous. By our (preliminary) count here at the Cult of Hockey , the Kraken had 17 Grade A shots, the Oilers 15. Koskinen had more answers than did Joey Daccord at the other end of the ice.

With the win the Oilers moved past Calgary Flames and back into first place in the Pacific Division with a 7-1-0 record for 14 points through 8 games. So it’s hard to be too critical, especially of a win, even on a night the home side was nowhere near the top of its game.

Same can be said of the officiating crew:

Player grades

#2 Duncan Keith, 7. Achieved a significant milestone with his 1200th career game and celebrated in style, scoring his first goal as an Oiler when he joined the play to tap home Draisaitl’s semi-accidental feed from close range. Officially Keith from Draisaitl and McDavid, could hardly have drawn it up better. Made a number of strong plays with the puck, even as the Oilers were outshot 7-3 during his 17 even strength minutes. Badly burned at the defensive blueline by Jordan Eberle who waltzed in alone but couldn’t beat Koskinen.

#5 Cody Ceci, 5. Some good, some bad, some in-between. He sure seems to be around the puck a lot, and maintains a good stick in the lanes.

#8 Kyle Turris, 6. Played just 9 minutes but had an impact, scoring the critical 4-2 goal early in the third that gave the Oilers some much-needed breathing room. That said, he was one of the culprits on the prior Kraken goal that had cut the lead to 1 when he was unable to prevent a shot from the slot. Had some sharp moments with the puck including a pair of takeaways along with 2 shots.

#10 Derek Ryan, 4. His line generated very little offensively — just 1 shot on net in 12 minutes — while Ryan himself didn’t even have an attempt. His best work was done on the defensive side, with 2 blocked shots, 2 hits, and a solid 8/13=62% on the faceoff dot. But was one of the culprits on 3 Grade A shots against, 2 of them on the penalty kill. Had a scary collision with man-mountain Jamie Oleksiak, who outweighs him by 70 pounds, but lived to tell about it.

#13 Jesse Puljujarvi, 6. Bull in a china shop, created a stir with his large, aggressive frame. Was on the receiving end too: sandwiched in a heavy collision that left him shaken up for a moment; he got up minus his stick, went to the net front, and wound up drawing a penalty. Not his best night with the puck, with a few bad touches and a poor decision to pass off from the slot after being set up perfectly by McDavid. Took a penalty of his own behind the opposition’s icing line.

#14 Devin Shore, 6. Played 10 minutes, much of it in his own end of the sheet as the Oilers were outshot 8-3 on his watch. 0 shot attempts, but made a key offensive play with a great pass to set up Turris for the goal mouth tap-in. Took a penalty for high-sticking, should have drawn one for interference that the ref standing 15 feet away somehow missed. 1 hit, 2 blocked shots.

#16 Tyler Benson, 4. A second straight quiet game beside Shore and Turris. His only involvement in a GASC at either end came in the first when he coughed up the puck in the defensive slot after being hauled down by an opponent. 1 shot, 1 hit.

#18 Zach Hyman, 6. Made a gorgeous goal mouth pass to Draisaitl on the prettiest goal of the night, an end-to-end four-way passing play on the powerplay. Found Nurse alone in front for another great chance. Had 3 good shots of his own but the puck seemed magnetized by Daccord’s belly pad. Nearly a third of his 18 minutes came on special teams, including 3:22 on the penalty kill.

#19 Mikko Koskinen, 8. A huge reason why the Oilers won this game going away. His save percentage doesn’t tell the whole story as he faced 17 Grade A looks, a very high number. 11 of them came in the second period alone. He responded with big stops off of Eberle, Ryan Donato, Brandon Tanev, Calle Jarnkrok, and Alex Wennberg to name a few. 29 shots, 27 saves, .931 save percentage.

#20 Slater Koekkoek, 5. According to Natural Stat Trick ‘s on-ice counts, he sawed off right across the board: 9-9 Corski, 6-6 Fenski, 4-4 shots, 6-6 scoring chances, 4-4 high-danger chances, 1-1 goals. In the latter department he played a much bigger role on the goal against, getting burned at the Edmonton blueline on what became an odd-man rush. Took a penalty. Led the defence with 3 hits and 2 shot blocks.

#22 Tyson Barrie, 6. Credited with an assist when his point shot deflected in off Draisaitl’s skate to open the scoring, then was not credited with one for a fine stretch pass to RNH which keyed the attack on the 2-1. Two more gorgeous passes later — Nuge to Hyman, Hyman to Drai — and the puck was in the back of the net. Allowed a dangerous pass on what became a pair of great Kraken chances, the first attempt hitting the post, Koskinen making a massive stop on the rebound, otherwise got the job done.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 4. His least effective game of the season by some margin. Was badly burned one-on-one by Jaden Schwartz for the first Seattle goal, and played an encore role of saloon door a couple more times later on. Oilers were badly outshot with their first pairing on the ice, and those numbers (Corski 9-20, shots 6-11) matched the eye test. Burned for 2 Grade A shots at even strength and 3 more on the penalty kill. Nurse did have a couple of fine chances at the good end but couldn’t cash. 3 shots, 3 hits (including a beauty on Mark Giordano) in a season-low 21 minutes.

#29 Leon Draisaitl, 9. Soared into a tie for the NHL scoring lead with 2-2-4, putting him in a dead heat with teammate McDavid at 7-10-17 through just 8 games. A little lucky on the first goal which went in off his skate, but he was full value for the second when he drove to the net front and chipped Hyman’s fine pass over Daccord and into the top of the net. This after drawing the penalty that led to the powerplay in the first place. Set up Keith’s goal with a strong move in the high slot to power into the danger zone and backhanding the disc in the general direction of the onrushing defender. Made a superb play on the game’s final goal when he fought off one checker and drew another one in before slipping a subtle pass through to Yamamoto for the deposit. Had 3 other chances to complete the hat trick but was stopped by Daccord on a breakaway, absolutely robbed by a desperation save in the last second of the middle frame, and chose to give up his last big look to set up Nugent-Hopkins who like Yamamoto was also looking for his first of the season. Involved in 9 Grade A chances by the Oilers, made just 1 mistake on a chance the other way. Led the Oil with 5 shots and a strong 10/15=67% on the dot.

#37 Warren Foegele, 5. A very quiet night for the third line who spent far too much time chasing. None of the three mustered so much as a shot attempt. Did manage to land 3 hits.

#44 Zack Kassian, 5. See Foegele. Kassian did bring the physicality as usual, with a couple of hits and involvement in the game’s lone scrum which drew coincidental penalties. He had some good moments along the walls in his own end and was a positive factor in clearing the zone a few times.

#56 Kailer Yamamoto, 7. Finally broke out of a season-long scoring drought by netting his first of the season to put the game on ice. Started the play from the neutral zone, then finished it on a nifty deke after getting the puck to Draisaitl and skedaddling for the net. He also won a battle in the corner that led to the first goal, and drew yet another penalty.

#75 Evan Bouchard, 4. Off his game on this night with some soft coverage and scattergun passes. 2 official giveaways, and a third that was somehow missed by the minor officials when he put the puck right on the stick of an opponent in the slot who immediately let fly with a dangerous shot. Shot attempts were 9 for, 20 against on his watch. For all that he led the team in ice time with 22:07 and clearly is earning the truth of his coach even when he’s not on top of his game.

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 7. Played a strong two-way game, highlighted by yet another assist: a fabulous aerial pass through a narrow seam that came down right on Hyman’s tape and resulted in the 2-1. (To admire it in all its glory, see the last angle of the video shown below the Draisaitl comment.) Now leads the NHL in assists with 11, with only two other players in double digits — teammates McDavid and Draisaitl.

#97 Connor McDavid, 6. The puck didn’t always behave the way he wanted. That said, he mustered 9 shot attempts and chipped in on 7 Grade A looks, earning a secondary assist on the Keith goal. Was caught out defensively on 3 Seattle chances. Was part of a “warm feeling” moment when he exchanged grins with former teammate Adam Larsson after the defensive stalwart got the better of McD and tipped his shot into the netting. It was a “warm feelings” kind of night.

Recently at the Cult of Hockey

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STAPLES: Oilers lines coming together, all except one

McCURDY: Corski, Fenski and the Oil’s 4th lineski

Follow me on Twitter @BruceMcCurdy

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2021-11-02 08:00:46Z
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