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Oilers 3, Sabres 2

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As might be expected, two teams near the playoff cutline in their respective conferences played a hard-fought and tense game in Buffalo on Monday night, with the visiting Edmonton Oilers hanging on to defeat the home-standing Sabres, 3-2 in regulation.

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Familiar heroes for the Oilers included Connor McDavid who scored twice including the game winner early in the third period, and netminder Stu Skinner, who turned aside 37 of 39 shots to earn the victory. But credit too to the cast of worker bees who allowed coach Jay Woodcroft to roll the lines all game long, with every Oilers skater playing between 13 and 23 shifts on the night.

Did I mention this game was close? (All situations, Oilers listed first, primary source Natural Stat Trick)

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Not surprisingly, our own preliminary tally of Grade A shots here at the Cult of Hockey was also razor thin: 16-17, 48.5% (running count).  This was a game very much up for grabs, and to their credit, the Oilers were able to grab it.

Player grades

#2 Evan Bouchard, 5. High event game in which he was personally involved in 5 Grade A shots at the good end but 6 going the other way. Took a crosschecking penalty that wasn’t costly in the end. 3 shots, but 0 goals for the 43rd straight game.

#5 Cody Ceci, 7. Played a very intense game, survived some heavy pressure from time to time, but also brought the goods in the offensive zone where he won battles in the build-up to each of the first 2 Edmonton goals. Ended the night 0-1-1, +2 with 3 hits, a takeaway, a block, and positive shot shares across the board.

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#10 Derek Ryan, 8. Part of an outstanding fourth line with Shore and Kostin that dominated possession (75% shot share), generally by cycling the puck deep in Buffalo territory. One extended such sequence led to Ryan himself popping home the 2-1 goal late in the second. Chipped in on 4 Grade A shots with 3 shots on net and 2 hits.

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#14 Mattias Ekholm, 6. Among those beaten on the 2-2 goal, he made up for it minutes later, shaking his check with a sweet move in his defensive corner, then finding Foegele with a stretch pass that keyed McDavid’s game winner. 22:03 ice time, 6 shot attempts, 1 assist.

#18 Zach Hyman, 5. Going through a bit of a dry patch this last bit. Took an unnecessary o-zone penalty  and a costly one too, as Buffalo scored the 1-1 on the PP. Got the puck to a good spot a few times but unable to execute in tight. Missed the net on his best chance, a 2 on 0 (!) breakaway where Foegele set him up.

#19 Devin Shore, 8. Got a lifeline with an emergency recall 8 games ago and has responded with the best hockey in his 3 years as an Oiler (8 GP, 1-3-4, +4). Played a team-low 9:56, but made those minutes count with a great assist to cap a terrific shift spent deep in Sabres territory. Had a dangerous tip of his own and his hard work set up another by Kostin. Worked his tail off all night.

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#21 Klim Kostin, 7. An effective third wheel on that line with Ryan and Kostin. 0 shots but 4 hits, and an effective screen on Ryan’s shot that put Edmonton ahead 2-1 late in the second.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 6. Got a bellyful of the Jeff Skinner-Tage Thompson-Jack Quinn line, got caved on shot shares but managed to saw off where it mattered most. Was on for 2 Oilers goals against other lines, getting an assist on the 2-1. Both he and Ekholm played a few ticks above 20 minutes, another sign of a more equitable sharing of the minutes among Edmonton’s restructured top four.

#26 Mattias Janmark, 6. We tagged him for allowing a pass on Jeff Skinner’s powerplay goal that tied it 1-1, but in fairness that was Tage Thompson who made a great play and who is apt to do just that against pretty much anybody. At evens he played 12 scoreless minutes, displaying his usual traits. Speedy. Smart. Safe.

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#27 Brett Kulak, 7. Looks very much at home back on the third pairing, on this night forming a fairly effective partnership with Desharnais on a rare night without a seventh D-man in the mix. Played 15 effective minutes during which Oilers had 64% of the shots (9-5) and 67% of the attempts (18-9), with 4 and 7 respectively coming off the stick of Kulak himself. 0-0 in goals, but came close on the disallowed goal, where his outside shot started the sequence.

#29 Leon Draisaitl, 5. His biggest threat was basically swallowed by the zebras, who allowed Edmonton but 1 powerplay chance all night — and just 2 the other way. This game was played almost entirely 5v5, whereas Leon tends to excel more at virtually any other manpower situation. Beaten on the 2-2 by the impressive Dylan Cozens; what impressed me the most was how the young Sabre was able to power through Draisaitl’s determined defensive effort on the play. Scored a brilliant assist with a spin-around pass to RNH, only to have the exciting play expunged due to yet another marginal offside seconds earlier. (I’m still waiting for the first offside challenge that actually produces a goal, instead of chip, chip, chipping away at offence, excitement, and all too often pretty goals like that one.)

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#37 Warren Foegele, 8. I’m usually pretty chintzy at awarding “great game” (= grade of 8) to depth forwards, but Foegele joins Ryan and Shore in earning one tonight. WF was in fact more than a depth forward in this one, as his strong play earned him a promotion to McDavid’s line where he played a major role on the decisive 3-2 goal. Solid 2-way game, 1 shot, 2 hits, uncounted “small plus” plays, shot shares in the 60% range. Another solid 6 in other words, with a bonus of fully +2 for the great play he made on the game winner, controlling Ekholm’s long pass up the wall under pressure, getting the puck behind his man, gaining the zone, then hitting a charging McDavid a perfect saucer pass. Just a terrific sequence at an important moment.

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#56 Kailer Yamamoto, 5. Had some good moments offensively, but nothing that quite clicked. His wicked tip of Kulak’s point shot started the chaos on the disallowed RNH goal, though it was he who had been offside, his leg not quite long enough to stretch back to the blueline despite his best effort. And he was among those beaten on the 2-2, losing a spirited battle for possession in Sabres territory and never quite catching up to the play. A decent overall effort, with a statistical legacy of 3 shots, 2 hits, a giveaway, a takeaway and -1 in 15 minutes of action.

#71 Ryan McLeod, 7. Started the game on McDavid’s port side and wound up sharing that role with Foegele. Earned an assist on the game’s first goal, first by hustling to tip a Buffalo clearing pass enabling the keep-in, then a puck recovery on the other wing, followed by a give-and-go with McDavid, a good shot on goal creating the rebound which #97 cashed on the wraparound.

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#72 Nick Bjugstad, 7. Oilers had a “normal” bottom 6 for the first time in awhile, and the group as a whole responded. The new 3C had himself a night, especially on the faceoff dot where he was merely perfect at 10/10=100%. 1 shot, 3 hits, and 3 takeaways, 2 of them important one within the context of the game. He’s being worked into the mix in the penalty kill (1:28 of just 2:43 shorthanded), and added 13 solid minutes at 5v5.

#73 Vincent Desharnais, 7. For the first time he was a fully-vested third-pairing d-man, having played in a 7-man unit — often as the #7 — in all of his previous games. Played a career-high 16:10 including the full 2:00 of Bufgfalo’s unsuccessful powerplay. Had an early eyeball-to-eyeball encounter with new Sabre Jordan Greenway, himself a mountain of a man at 6’6, 231. A few clumsy moments, many more effective ones. Good shot shares and his best scoring chance to date, alas his hard shot from the slot whizzed just past the post.

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#74 Stuart Skinner, 9. With the eyes of Oil Country laser-focused on the blue paint, the unflappable rookie came through with another first-rate, never mind reassuring performance. Saw plenty of rubber in all 3 periods (15 shots, then 13, then 11) but stood tall, and more importantly wide and square, in building his personal wall in front of the net. No chance on his namesake Jeff’s powerplay one-timer just inside the post, and Cozens’ spin-around wrister found the perfect spot just beyond the heel of his stick and under the right pad. Stopped the same 2 snipers on a combined 11 other shots, and stoned the rest of the Sabres outright. Has allowed 3 or fewer goals in his last 6 consecutive starts, raising his Quality Start percentage to an impressive 21/35=60% in the process. 39 shots, 37 saves, .949 save percentage.

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#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 5. On the ice for both Sabres goals, though not among the culprits in either instance. Scored a nice goal only to have it taken off the board, again through no fault of his own. Did have a fairly high-event night — contributions to 5 Grade A’s for, 4 against — firing 4 shots of his own.

#97 Connor McDavid, 9. As in his first game in Buffalo in his rookie season, McDavid both opened and closed the scoring in a tight Oilers victory (2-1 in overtime that time). His sixth brace in the last 8 games. Both were brief bursts of brilliance, where McDavid jumped on the puck in a dangerous spot and made short work of making the deposit. The first, a quick wraparound off McLeod’s rebound that caught Anderson’s blocker on the way in; the second, a lightning strike after accepting Foegele’s pass in the high slot, a shift to get Anderson’s feet moving, then the familiar dart low five-hole. Game breaker. Now has a career-high 124 points, and has been shut out just twice in his last 45 games.

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