Player grades: Edmonton Oilers put one foot in the playoffs with full team effort, second straight shutout win – Edmonton Journal

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Golden Knights 0, Oilers 4

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In what was arguably their biggest game of the season, Edmonton Oilers came up with a full team effort on Saturday afternoon to shut down the Vegas Golden Knights 4-0.

It was their second straight victory by the same score after the Oilers blanked Nashville Predators in the Music City on Thursday. The 4 points Edmonton secured in under 48 hours provide some much-needed breathing room in what has been a pell-mell run towards the playoffs.

Suddenly the Oilers are in splendid position, second place in the Pacific with a 6 point lead over Los Angeles Kings, 7 ahead of Vegas, all 3 teams with 6 games to play.  (Pending results of the Kings game on the west coast late Saturday night.) It certainly helps that the Oilers took the season series off of both rivals, winning 3 of 4 games in each case.

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With the Oilers holding the tie-breaker (regulation wins) advantage over the Kings, they need just 6 points in their last 6 games to clinch home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs against the survivor among L.A., Vegas, and a late charging Vancouver.

On Saturday, they used home ice for good, recording their first shutout in the “friendly confines” since 2019, their last 6 whitewashes all having come on the road. Mike Smith was outstanding in the win but he had plenty of help from his friends. Vegas outshot Edmonton 39-36, but our own preliminary analysis here at the Cult of Hockey had the Oilers holding a substantial 16-5 edge in Grade A shots, with a handful of plays at both ends of the ice still to be reviewed (running count).

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A splendid team performance worth of positive grades for all hands.

Player grades

#2 Duncan Keith, 6. Played a solid defensive game, burned for a couple of Grade B shots in the early going but very little thereafter. Moved the puck well. Blocked 7 shots to lead both teams.

#5 Cody Ceci, 8. Led the D corps in shifts (26), ice time (22:40), even-strength ice time (19:01) and short-handed ice time (3:39). No glaring mistakes, several good defensive stops, and a huge goal when he hammered a shot into Puljujarvi’s heavy screen and caught a favourable deflection off an opposing stick. That made the score 2-0 in the opening minute of the third and the Oilers largely cruised from there. A couple of minor defensive issues but nothing egregious.

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#6 Kris Russell, 8. Scored his first goal in over 3 years when he jumped into the high slot to snap home Kassian’s late feed. And a big goal it was too, the eventual game winner that opened the scoring late in the first and stood as game’s lone tally through two periods before his mates ran away with it in the third. Played 12:08 as the nominal 7th defenceman, spending time on both sides of the sheet. Chipped in 2:10 on the (perfect) penalty kill and was not victimized on any Grade A shots against all day long. 3 shots, 2 blocks, 2 hits.

#10 Derek Ryan, 6. 10 solid minutes at even strength, 90 good seconds on the PK. Chipped in an assist on the clinching shorthanded goal, officially credited to RNH. Showed up in good spots in the offensive zone on the regular.

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#13 Jesse Puljujarvi, 7. Another Oiler with a solid two-way effort. No points, but made a huge contribution on Ceci’s goal, screening Logan Thompson in the Vegas goal while engaging Brayden McNabb who accidentally tipped the puck past his own goaltender. Chipped in on 4 Grade A shots by the Oilers, no mistakes on any against. Is becoming a master at making short passes that find McDavid in good spots.

#18 Zach Hyman, 6. A couple of good shots from very close range, and his usual degree of battling in the trenches, including being on the receiving end of a heavy check by Zach Whitecloud. No deduction for the extraordinarily chintzy slashing penalty he incurred in the third; thankfully his mates had his back and killed it off.

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#22 Tyson Barrie, 6. Skated well, flashed a good defensive stick on timely occasions, stayed out of trouble. 2 shots on net, 1 of them a one-time bomb that Thompson fought off.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 7. Tower of power with 5 shot attempts, 3 hits, and a number of won battles. Impressed on one sequence when he cleared a dangerous rebound from the low slot, then made a second strong play along the wall to win the puck outright and trigger the breakout. Earned an assist on Ceci’s goal and could have had another with a fine pass which Yamamoto rang off the post. Played “just” 20:54 but chipped in 3:18 on the penalty kill.

#27 Brett Kulak, 6. Quietly effective with decent shot shares and zero significant problems behind his own blueline. Credited with a game-high 6 hits.

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#29 Leon Draisaitl, 6. Had very little going on offensively including a rare 0 shots on net, but he played a strong defensive game. Made a key stop in the dying seconds of the middle frame after Bouchard and Keith got their signals crossed. Dominated the dot to the tune of 18/27=67%.

#37 Warren Foegele, 9. Upped the ante on his strong play of recent weeks, delivering perhaps his finest game of the season to date. Strong in all three zones, skating in direct lines to the puck and winning battles when he got there. Made two key plays on the first goal, first bowling over a defender deep in Vegas territory to establish possession, then jumping on a loose puck high in the zone and starting the four-way passing play that ended in Russell’s goal. No point to show for that effort, so he took matters into his own hands in the third scoring the 3-0 tally unassisted. That started with a good read and interception high in the defensive zone, followed by a 150-foot sprint that left defenders in his wake and ended with a high-speed deke and deposit. 4 shots on net, a team-high 7 shot attempts, 2 hits, 1 takeaway.

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#41 Mike Smith, 9. Continued his über-hot roll with his second consecutive shutout, becoming just the 7th goalie in NHL history to do so at age 40+. Was busy all day with 39 saves including at least 12 in each period. Faced more shots of Grade B than A, but staved off quite a few tough drives from high-calibre snipers along the way including 6 from Max Pacioretty, 5 each from Jack Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo, 4 from Jonathan Marchessault. Did a great job battling through screens. Took care of his housekeeping around the crease as well, twice cutting out dangerous passes and once making an excellent poke check on the edge of the blue paint. Rock solid handling the puck, other than one bobble of a bouncing shot that nearly led to disaster but didn’t. 39 shots, 39 saves, 1.000 save percentage, and is rolling along at a stunning 5-0-0, 0.80, .976 over the last fortnight.

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#44 Zack Kassian, 6. Had a generally strong game, starting as an “extra forward” earning 11 minutes with a variety of linemates. Noticeable mostly in a good way, landing 5 hits. Seemed to freeze when McLeod set him up in great position at the side of the net, but recovered nicely with a Plan B feed to Russell in the high slot, earning the primary assist on the game’s first goal. Docked 1 full grade for the unnecessary penalty he took on a neutral zone faceoff with 6 minutes left in the third, a high-sticking infraction on Keegan Kolesar where he twice grazed the Vegas depth forward before finally connecting on his third go-round. The good news was not only did his mates kill it off, they scored the 4-0 goal at the tail end of it.

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#56 Kailer Yamamoto, 6. Had nothing going on offensively (0 shots, bad shot shares) but was nonetheless a thorn in the Golden Knights’ side throughout. Had a superb shift on Edmonton’s first penalty kill, twice stealing the puck inside the Oilers’ blueline and killing time with a good rush and later, a safe clear and change. Rang a good slot shot off the post early in the second. Engaged around the puck all afternoon, he took a licking and kept on ticking. Took some friendly fire when Bouchard drilled him with a heavy shot that (twice) sent him limping down the tunnel, but he returned for the third. 4 hits, 2 takeaways.

#71 Ryan McLeod, 6. The only Oiler under 10:00 ice time (8:50), he found a way to make an impact. Made a fine pass to Kassian and earned a secondary assist on the game winner. Strong rush and one-handed shot on the penalty kill, on which he contributed 2:01. Not the best puck management with 4 giveaways. A couple of curious decisions with the puck in what seemed good shooting positions.

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#75 Evan Bouchard, 6. Some decent outlet passes, a couple of good shots, and most importantly safe play at his own end of the sheet with 0 mistakes on Grade A shots.

#91 Evander Kane, 7. In the middle of the action with 5 shot attempts, 4 hits, 3 giveaways and 1 highly-debatable penalty. Earned an assist on Ceci’s goal with a rote pass. Had a bigger role to play on RNH’s shorthanded goal by barging to the net front and adding to Thompson’s problems, even as the goal itself was ultimately taken away from Kane and awarded to Nuge. Absolutely robbed by Thompson’s pad after a great pass by McDavid set him up alone in front, but was unable to get the puck upstairs.

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 7. Led the Oilers with 5 shots on net. Credited with a goal on the last of those when he picked his way up-ice on a solo shorthanded rush, then crossed up Thompson with a tricky backhand shot that somehow found its way home. 2 shot blocks and some solid PK work in 3:06, most among forwards. Just 4/14=29% on the dot.

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#97 Connor McDavid, 7. Was all over the event summary in every category except the one you might expect, as he went without a point. Otherwise, 3 shots, 3 hits, 2 giveaways but 4 takeaways, a block, and a fine 9/14=64% on the faceoff dot. Skated miles and took care of business defensively all afternoon.

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