Player grades: Edmonton Oilers bring their demolition game to Boston Bruins
The Edmonton Oilers demolished the Boston Bruins 4-0 on Tuesday night, beating them with skill, skill and more skill. The Oilers had 22 Grade A shots to 13 for Boston, with the subset of 5-alarm shots seven to six for Edmonton. Most of Boston’s best shots came in garbage time, but Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner was up to everything Boston could muster. Connor McDavid, 8.? He ramped it up to his usual high standard of attack. Set up Perry for a dangerous shot late in the first, then got his own half-way through the second after Drai won an n-zone board battle creating a 2-on-1. McD got caught out on the power play allowing Zacha in for a short-handed breakaway in the second, then rushed up ice to score after executing seven quick dekes, then driving it home on a breakaway of his own. Almost scored again off another RNH feed for a break-in shot late in the second. Contributions/mistakes on Grade A shots (GAS): Even Strength +7/-0; Special Teams 4/1. Connor Brown, 7. Lots of good effort. Chipped in on some Grade As on the attack. GAS: ES +3/-0; ST 0/0 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 8. Showed off some great skill this game.? He worked a swell give-and-go with McD early in the second and backhanded a hot one on net. Excellent pass to send in McD for Edmonton’s second goal. GAS: ES +5/-0; ST 1/1 Leon Draisaitl, 7. Nothing spectacular, but plenty of good. GAS: ES +5/-1; ST 2/0 Vasili Podkolzin, 6. His usual hard-working effort was there.? A good backcheck in the third to thwart a Boston Grade A opportunity, then got his own Grade A in tight a moment later off an Arvidsson pass. He led the team with five hits. GAS: ES +3/-1; ST 0/0 Viktor Arvidsson, 7. Solid game. He went to the net and almost put in Drai’s feed early in the second. He scored an empty-netter, a reward for all the hard work he’s been putting in lately. GAS: ES +5/-1; ST 0/0 Adam Henrique, 9. Two goals, outstanding game. Worked a smart give-and-go, then set up Brown for Edmonton’s first Grade A. A few shifts later he found a quiet spot in the slot and blasted in Corey Perry’s pass for the first goal of the game. Found that quiet spot again in the second to power in his second of the game. Eight wins and one loss on the dot. GAS: ES +4/-1; ST 0/0 Jeff Skinner, 8. Possibly his best game as an Oiler. Gritty effort. Made some solid passes and shot son Grade A sequences. Brilliant low-high pass into the slot on Henrique’s second goal. GAS: ES +4/-1; ST 0/0 Related No contest in Boston as Edmonton Oilers walk through Bruins Is another Hart Trophy in Leon Draisaitl’s future? Zach Hyman, 7. Another excellent Hyman effort. He took the puck hard to net for a Grade A in the first., and was busy the rest of the period causing trouble for Boston on the Edmonton attack. He was in on the Virtuous Cycle of Edmonton’s third goal. GAS: ES +3/-0; ST 2/0 Mattias Janmark, 5. Quiet game but his usual hard work on the kill and at all times. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 0/0 Kasperi Kapanen, 5. Also a quiet game, but that’s OK in such a dominating team performance. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST 0/0 Corey Perry, 8. Great game. He’s still got a way around the net, holding the puck patiently before finding Henrique in the slot in the first. Hammered a Grade A of his own late in the first. Brilliant veteran mov3, first hitting hot-head Trent Frederic, then goading Frederic into starting a fight and an extra two minutes. A full bonus mark for that. GAS: ES +2/-1; ST 0/0 Evan Bouchard, 5. Starting to fire on all cylinders. Great block of a wicked Pastrnak shot in the first, then sent McD in for a Grade A off the rush. Was culpable though in whole or part on three breakaway shots. GAS: ES +3/-2; ST 1/2 Mattias Ekholm, 7. One more good game in a long run of them as an Oiler. Great, heads-up pinch to kick off Arvidsson’s 5-alarm slotter.? GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 0/0 Darnell Nurse, 6. Some trouble in his own end, but also some good. He misread the play and released on Pavel Zacha for an early Boston Grade A tip. He rushed up ice and almost scored on a harpoon off a McDavid 2-on-1 feed. GAS: ES +2/-2; ST 0/0 Brett Kulak, 6. The usual solid game from Kulak. He took a wicked hit but then chipped in with an outside shot on Edmonton’s first goal. GAS: ES +2/-3; ST 0/0 Ty Emberson, 7. Quiet game which is a great thing for a d-man.? GAS: ES +0/-2; ST 0/0 Josh Brown, 6. Got a Grade A shot in the first. After Zadorov ran Skinner, Brown challenged him. But no need to fight, as Edmonton dominated this one. He got beat in front to the net by Frederic in the third. GAS: ES +1/-1; ST 0/0 Stuart Skinner, 9. Came huge when he needed to do so. Sharp in the first 30 seconds on Zacha’s wicked little tip, then solid on Marchand in tight later in the frame. He got taken out hard by Nikita Zadorov on the rush, an ugly run at Edmonton’s goalie, which took him out of the game. It was a classic example of running-the-goalie. Fortunately Skinner returned to the game in the second. He came up huge on Zacha’s short-handed breakaway, then on Pastrnak’s point blank snipe with the score still 2-0. Solid yet again on Frederic in tight early in the third, then came up big as Boston fired things up, especially on breakaway stops on Mark Kastelic and John Beecher. At the Cult of Hockey McCURDY: Skinner gets a bump, but can he make a noise? Staples on politics Trudeau takes a wrecking ball to Alberta and Canada right until the end
?
