Player grades: Leon Draisaitl leads the charge as Oilers snipers down Ducks, clinch playoff berth

Ducks 0, Oilers 6

The Oilers outshot the Ducks 45-36 in the wide-open affair, and held more convincing 27-13 margin in the Cult of Hockey‘s tally of Grade A shots, including 11-5 in the subset of 5-alarm shots (running count).In our recent custom, we will include each skater’s count of contributions to Grade A shots (GAS), both for and against and in all manpower situations, at the end of each player comment.

Player grades

#2 Evan Bouchard, 7. Quiet but efficient. Earned an assist on McDavid’s third-period beauty, kept things tidy at the other end of the ice. GAS: +2/-0.

#5 Cody Ceci, 5. Struggled to move the puck in his own end at times, especially during a difficult opening 20. Settled down thereafter. 21:17 TOI including 1:50 on the penalty kill. 0 shots, 1 hit, 2 giveaways. GAS: +1/-5.

#14 Mattias Ekholm, 8. Another superb game from the bearded Swede, refelcted in his boxcars of 0-2-2, +3. His point shot was tipped home by Hyman for the game winner. He chipped in on McDavid’s around-the-world beauty by posting up at the near-side post and occupying 2 defenders and the goalie while McD circled the wagons. Then he made a strong d-zone play and head-man pass to Draisaitl for the shorty that brought the hats down. Strong in defence, including a team-leading 2:53 on the penalty kill. GAS: +5/-0, truly outstanding for a d-man.

#19 Devin Shore, 6. Played a shade under 10 minutes centring a fourth line that controlled its part of the game, even as it couldn’t break through with a goal. Zero issues defensively. GAS: +3/-0, setting up each of his linemates for a dangerous shot and producing a third off his own stick.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 8. Another dynamic game from the big rearguard. Scored his 11th of the season on a good shot through Yamamoto’s screen, in the process achieving a new career high with his 42nd point of the season. Made a fine cross-seam pass to Draisaitl for a one-timer that nearly produced #50. A couple of minor defensive issues, but put out a few fires along the way. Led the d-corps in ice time (22:57), shots (7), blocks (2) and hits (2). Was shoved into the path of a high hard blast and was very fortunate to come away from it unscathed. GAS: +4/-3.

#27 Brett Kulak, 5. Skated well, but had a few issues handling/clearing the puck. 3 giveaways on the night. GAS: +0/-1.

Now has achieved 50 goals and 50 assists in the same season 3 different times, and was on pace for same in his MVP season of 2019-20 before COVID shut it down with 11 games still on the slate. To put that in perspective, the feat has only been accomplished 1 other time league-wide in Draisaitl’s 9-year career… that being by Connor McDavid in 2022-23. I hope Oil fans realize how good we have it. GAS: +15 (!)/-4.

#37 Warren Foegele, 4. Struggled on a third line that spent way too much time in its own end, in large part due to sloppy puck management. Foegele’s 3 giveaways were part of that, notably a pair of consecutive turnovers inside his own blueline in the last minute of the first. Did get a breakaway late in the second but couldn’t cash. Oilers were outshot 11-4 during his 10½ minutes at even strength. GAS: +1/-0.

#72 Nick Bjugstad, 4. The big man wasn’t moving well on this night and seemed a step behind the play at times. The only forward without a shot, but 3 giveaways and 5/14 on the dot. Oilers were outshot 11-3 on his watch. Did chip in to a couple of Grade A shots by the second powerplay unit. GAS: +3/-1.

#73 Vincent Desharnais, 5. Low-event, which fits his job description. Blocked 2 shots, created his usual roadblock in front of Oilers’ net. GAS: +1/-1.

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. A relatively quiet night for the red-hot forward, though he did manage a point, his 97th of the season, on McDavid’s show-stopper. GAS: +4/-3.