Oilers 6, Sharks 1
With the win Edmonton gained a point on Vegas — in first place in both the Pacific Division and Western Conference — who lost in the shootout at Dallas. The Oil now stand just 2 points back with 2 games to play for each team and hold the tie-breaker as well.
The Oilers outshot the Sharks 35-23. Their true dominance shone through in the Cult of Hockey‘s count of Grade A shots, which they led by 15-4, with an 8-2 advantage in the subset of 5 alarm chances (preliminary running count). As has become our recent custom, we will record individual contributions to Grade A shots, both for and against, at the end of each player’s comment.
Player grades
#2 Evan Bouchard, 8. The young blueliner has been coming on gangbusters since being paired with Ekholm on Mar 01, with with impressive boxcars of 19 GP, 3-14-17, +11 in that span. 2 of the points, both secondary assists, and 4 of the pluses came in an impressive showing in the Shark Tank that saw Edmonton dominate shot and goal share on Bouchard’s watch. Goals notwithstanding, I was most impressed on a play Bouch appeared set to unleash a risky cross-ice pass through the neutral zone, but thought better of it and fed a short, safe pass up the wall to a speeding McDavid. Good decision! GAS: +2/-0
#14 Mattias Ekholm, 9. The Oilers have been a different club since his arrivial on Mar 01. Ekholm took it to a new level on Saturday, becoming just the second Oiler since 1987 to log +6 in a single game (Sam Gagner was the other, in his famous 8-point game). Ekholm didn’t light up the scoreboard the way Gagner did, but the Oilers were in control of the game for seemingly every second of his 19:07 of ice time. He held mammoth leads in on-ice shot attempts (30-16), shots on net (+18/-8) and especially high danger chances (+16/-3!). His lone assist was a beautiful delayed backhand pass that found Hyman alone in front. Involved in a couple of nice give-and-go plays with McDavid that led to dangerous shots but not goals. But hey, +6. Now leads the 2022-23 Oilers with +25, this despite playing just 19 games with the club. To put that in perspective, runners-up Nurse (+23) and McDavid (+22) have both played all 80 games. I’ve never seen the like. GAS: +3/-0.
#21 Klim Kostin, 6. The only Oiler without a shot on goal or even an attempt, Kostin nonetheless had a strong game with 5 hits, some adept passing, and an excellent defensive stop that thwarted a very dangerous chance. Skated with purpose all afternoon. GAS +0/-0.
#25 Darnell Nurse, 7. Another rock solid outing despite the absence of his usual partner, Cody Ceci, back in Edmonton attending the birth of his first child. Nurse was the only Oiler, D or F, to hit the 20-minute mark, despite not having a regular partner all day long. He played at least a minute with all 6 other d-men, including 5, 4, and 3 minutes respectively with Broberg, Desharnais, and Demers, usually at the other end of the rotation. Also led the squad with 2:58 on the PK, recording a +1 on that unit. Put out a few fires, didn’t start any. Crunched Erik Karlsson with an open-ice hit, and made a terrific diving block of a lethal pass. GAS: +1/-0.
#27 Brett Kulak, 5. Similar to Janmark in shot distribution (a poor +11/-25 in attempts, but a middling +7/-8 in shots on net). Played a team high 18:32 at even strength. 4 hits, 3 blocks. GAS” +1/-2.
#29 Leon Draisaitl, 6. Struggled at times, marked by an uncharacteristic 3/12=25% on the dot. But created plenty offensively, setting up linemate Kane for 4 Grade A shots, and making a splendid behind-the-back pass to Broberg for the young Swede’s first goal of the season. GAS: +6/-0.
#37 Warren Foegele, 7. Strong game playing with Ryan and various guest stars on the 2-man fourth unit. Made chicken salad out of chicken feathers when he found a bouncing puck in the slot and managed to pop it over to McDavid for the game winner, coincidentally his 150th point. Around the puck all night. GAS: +1/-1.
#56 Kailer Yamamoto, 5. Quiet game, okay defensively but created little. 1 shot, 1 hit. 2 takeaways. GAS: +0/-0.
#72 Nick Bjugstad, 5. Also mostly quiet, although that is more in keeping with his job description. His 23 shifts led the forwards and tied Nurse and Kulak for the team lead. Took the rarely-seen minor penalty, “2 minutes for being taller than his opponent”. GAS: +2/-1.
#74 Stuart Skinner, 7. Kept things tidy on those rare occasions play broke down in front of him. Not much chance on the bang-bang play that beat him. Now has 27 wins this season, 1 shy of Grant Fuhr’s franchise record for a rookie. 23 shots, 22 saves, .957 save percentage.
#86 Philip Broberg, 6. Scored his first goal of the season by going hard to the net to take Draisaitl’s pass, then finding his own rebound behind Reimer and tapping it home. A couple of iffy moments with the puck, nothing costly. GAS: +1/-0.
#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 8. Another first-rate performance with 1-2-3, +4, raising his careers highs to 37-66-103 on the season. Finished off Hyman’s pass at the side of the net for the 1-0; made a splendid cross-crease pass to Ryan for the shorty; and threaded a gorgeous through pass at the blueline to McDavid for the late cherry-on-top. Excellent on the PK as usual, leading all forwards with 2:28 (of 4:00 total). GAS: +3/-0.
#97 Connor McDavid, 9. On fire in the first period, driving the net time and again and creating all sorts of chaos in the San Jose zone. Helped set up RNH’s ice-breaker with a greta drive to the net-front. Scored the 2-1 himself by finishing off Foegele’s pass after first stealing the puck himself to create the chance. That was his 150th point of the season, joining Wayne Gretzky (9 times!), Mario Lemieux (4), Steve Yzerman, Phil Esposito, and Bernie Nicholls (once each) as the only NHLers to ever breathe such rarefied air. That stood up as the game-winner, his league leading (tied) 11th of the season. Converted a late breakaway for his 64th goal of the season, the most of any Oiler since Jari Kurri potted 68 back in 1985-86. Now 7 ahead of David Pastrnak in the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy, and appears set to be the first NHLer to win the “triple crown” (goals, assists, and points) since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. 10 shot attempts, 6 on goal, and 4 takeaways. GAS: +6/-1.
