Player grades: Oilers bury Avalanche, clinch playoff berth

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Avalanche 2, Oilers 6

Stinging from a one-sided defeat in Dallas in their previous game, Edmonton Oilers took out their frustrations on another Central Division powerhouse on Friday, thumping the Colorado Avalanche 6-2. In the process, the Oil clinched a berth in the post-season for the fifth season in a row.

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That they did so with 7 games still to play is quite a feat for a club that sat a lowly 30th in the overall standings back on American Thanksgiving, supposedly a milestone date tipping off which teams are likely to make the post-season and which ones aren’t. The Oilers have been turning that convention on its ear pretty much ever since.

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The clincher was very much a team effort, featuring strong performances up and down the line-up.  They scored 2 goals in each period while at the other end they limited their opponent to 2 goals or fewer for the 35th time this season. 7 different Oilers scored 2 points each. The goals weren’t exactly pretty, but were the result of going hard to the net and getting some bounces. Several bounces.

The home side dominated play, doubling up the Avalanche in shots, 46-23 while scoring twice in each period. By our analysis at the Cult of Hockey, Edmonton held a whopping 20-8 edge in Grade A Shots (running count). Good process + good results = above average grades across the board on Clinch Night.

Oddly, it was the second time in 3 seasons the Oil have clinched with a resounding home-ice victory over the Avs (6-3 in 2022 April). Every other game between these teams over those same 3 (regular) seasons went to overtime, with Colorado winning 5 of them. By Gary Bettman’s math, Colorado holds a 5-2-1 record vs. Edmonton over that time, while the Oil are 3-0-5 vs. the Avs. Welcome to the NHL’s Cockamamie Point System™!

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Player grades

#2 Evan Bouchard, 7. Deuces were wild for #2 in particular, with 2 shots, 2 missed shots, 2 giveaways and 2 takeaways along with 2 assists, 2 penalties and +2 in 20 minutes of action. Unable to bury a great chance in the early going when he missed the target from the slot. Unable to get the puck through on the powerplay resulting in a shorthanded breakaway for Miles Wood, though Skinner had the answer. Thankfully, the penalty kill unit also had the answers during the 4 minutes he sat in the sin bin. Those glitches aside, he had a solid enough overall game, with the 2 apples raising his season total to 16-62-78 in 75 games, passing Roman Josi for third place amonmg NHL defencemen. Contributions to Grade A Shots (GAS): Even Strength +4/-0; ST +1/-1.

#5 Cody Ceci, 8. Another very encouraging performance by the veteran who had been struggled mightily in February and March. He too earned a pair of assists, the cherry on top of a strong all-ice game. During his 15½ minutes at even strength, Edmonton outshot Colorado 10-2. He played a whopping 4:16 of the 6 minutes the Oilers were shorthanded, and produced the best chance himself by first making an excellent stop in front of his own net, then jumping into the rush, taking RNH’s pass and firing a hard wrist shot off the goal post. Whistled for a phantom penalty that was surprisingly but correctly overturned. Ended the night +4 to lead the club. GAS: ES +2/-0; ST +1/-0. 

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#10 Derek Ryan, 6. Returned to the line-up with jump in his step, delivering 10 strong minutes. Colorado mustered just 1 shot during his 7+ minutes at even strength, though he did his best work in 2:28 on the 3/3 penalty kill. 1 shot, 1 block, 2 hits, and a solid 7/10=70% on the faceoff dot including 4/5 in the defensive zone. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 0.

#13 Mattias Janmark, 6. Like Ryan, 10 good minutes split between the checking line and the PK.  Oilers outshot the Avs 5-0 (!) during his even strength time, and he got the job done on the shorthanded crew as well. Made a fine defensive play to cancel a McDavid turnover. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 0.

#14 Mattias Ekholm, 8. Had a major impact in a variety of ways. Had a bad moment late in the first period when he was beaten wide by Ross Colton who went in to score the goal that briefly gave Colorado a 2-1 lead. Helped get that back within 80 seconds when he assisted on McDavid’s first goal. Landed 2 heavy hits on Mikko Rantanen, the second of which knocked Avalanche star from the game. Drew a (very debatable) penalty in its aftermath when Jack Johnson got in his face. Minutes later, Ekholm put the Oilers ahead to stay when he started, then joined the rush with Draisaitl, and getting a favourable bounce that wound up in the net, a play which indirectly earned the Oilers another powerplay when Colorado challenged for goalie interference (it wasn’t). That stood up as the game winner. In addition to his 1-1-2, +1, he led the d-corps in both shots and hits with 4 of each. His fifth multi-point game in his last 10 (5-10-15, +10).
How well has Ek been playing? Consider that his celebrated teammate McDavid was the NHL’s First Star of the Month in March for his 31 points in 31 days, yet somehow didn’t win the local bauble for Oiler of the Month. Instead it was Ekholm who accepted the venerable Molson Cup in a pregame ceremony. GAS: ES +2/-1; ST +1/-0.  

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#18 Zach Hyman, 6. He’s been a bit quiet of late and was again, even as he had 5 shots on net. Earned an assist on the 5-2 through dogged pursuit of the puck. GAS: ES +4/-0; ST +1/-0.

#19 Adam Henrique, 6. Sawed off his 11½ minutes at 1-1 with 2 shots, 1 block and 3 hits. Dangerous deflection early, fine pass to RNH late. GAS: ES +3/-1.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 7. A major bounceback game after a rough night in Dallas. Played a more conservative game but not a passive one, doing a fine job of controlling the puck in his own end and moving it north. Earned an assist on the first goal with a good outside shot that Perry tipped home. Oilers dominated the shot clock to the tune of 13-3 during his nearly 16 minutes at 5v5. Saw plenty of time on both special teams and wound up leading the team with 23 minutes on ice.

#27 Brett Kulak, 6. Up and down game featured a couple of nice offensive sequences and a couple of iffy ones in his own zone. Took an unnecessary penalty in the third, then contributed to another with a too-casual pass in his own end that left Bouchard in a pickle. On the positive side, set up a pair of Grade A’s with a good outside shot, then had one of his own after emerging from the box. With no role on special teams, he played just 15:01. GAS: ES +3/-2; ST 0.

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#28 Connor Brown, 6. Same song as his linemates Ryan and Janmark on a fourth line that allowed nothing at even strength (1 shot against in Brown’s 9 minutes) and got the job done on the PK (1:55 in Brown’s case). His toughest moment came when he got drilled by a puck while sitting on the bench, which cost him a few minutes in the room and a few stitches, but appeared none the worse for wear thereafter. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 0.

#29 Leon Draisaitl, 8. Hit a major milestone when he recorded his 100th point of the season with a first period assist. In the process he became the fifth Oiler to hit triple digits at least 5 different times: Gretzky 9, McDavid 7, Kurri 6, Messier 5, Draisaitl 5. Can’t lie that’s an illustrious list. Had several chances to score his 40th goal (also for the fifth time) but found no joy, narrowly missing the net on a great powerplay chance and drilling the post with another. Did add another assist, the primary helper on the game winner. Tied McDavid for the team lead in another category on the night, a team-high 4 giveaways for each. Was also responsible for a lot of possession by posting a team-best 11/15=73% on a night the Oil dominated the dot with 39/59=66%. GAS: ES +3/-1; ST +3/-0.

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#37 Warren Foegele, 6. Played an industrious, effective 2-way game, even as he had little to show for it with boxcars of 0-0-0, -1. GAS: ES +2/-0; ST 0.

#71 Ryan McLeod, 8. He didn’t score a goal, but his linemates Kane and Perry combined for 3. Did a fine job transporting the puck and getting it into the greasy areas where both his linemates thrive. Got in there himself a few times and held his own. After being involved in the build-up on Perry’s early goal, McLeod earned primary assists on both of Kane’s tallies. The first very late in the second when he made a fine play to gain possession in the neutral zone, then fired a slapshot that handcuffed Alexandar Georgiev and produced the greasiest rebound these eyes have seen in some time. The other a nice drop pass to Kane for a low percentage shot that found a hole. Had his own chances with 3 shots, also 1 hit and 4 (!) takeaways. 9/15=60% on faceoffs. Oilers enjoyed a 10-4 shot advantage and 3-1 goal share during 11½ highly-effective minutes at evens. Added another 4+ minutes on special teams. GAS: ES +4/-0; ST 0.

#73 Vincent Desharnais, 6. Announced as the Oilers’ Masterton nominee earlier in the day, Desharnais had his best moments on the penalty kill, where he played 3:14. Saved a near-certain goal by chopping a radioactive rebound out of imminent danger, then followed up seconds later by blocking a Nathan MacKinnon drive, retrieving the rebound and sending a stretch pass to Kulak emerging from the penalty box for an odd-man rush the other way before limping off to the bench. GAS: ES: +2/-1; ST 0.

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#74 Stu Skinner, 7. Beaten twice on 6 shots in the first but slammed the door the rest of the way, not the first time similar has happened. Robbed Rantanen on a first-period powerplay. Put Kulak in a bad spot with a “centring” pass, but recovered to blocker away Drouin’s drive. His key stop thwarted Miles Wood’s shorthanded breakaway, the score still 2-2.  23 shots, 21 saves, .913 save percentage.