Player grades: McDavid, Draisaitl to the rescue as Oilers pull ...

Edmonton Oilers were the dominant team throughout much of Tuesday night’s game vs. New York Islanders, but for the third time in the last five home games proved incapable of holding a lead down the stretch, blowing a 3-1 lead in the final 8 minutes of regulation.

That’s when the Oilers’ major offensive stars took charge of the game, and not for the first time. Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid had been the only Oilers to solve the brilliant Ilya Sorokin in regulation, and all three combined on the overtime winner, netted by Draisaitl.

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The Oil outshot their ancient rivals 42-22, including a massive 26-10 edge in Grade A shots as per our video analysis here at the Cult of Hockey (preliminary running count). Even more impressive was Edmonton’s 14-2 margin in 5-alarm shots, which largely mirrored the 17-3 count of High Danger Chances in all situations logged by Natural Stat Trick. This game was not as close as the score suggests.

#2 Evan Bouchard, 8. Delivered his best offensive game of the season with a goal, 2 assists, 8 shots on net and 11 contributions to Grade A shots. Alas, was among those beaten on both the first and third Islanders goals, enough to knock his grade down a full point. Solved Sorokin with a terrific wrist shot in the aftermath of both McDavid and Hyman hitting the post in rapid succession. Made a terrific play on the OT winner when he held the puck just inside the New York blueline while his linemates changed out, then walked the line before feeding the puck to McDavid coming off the bench.  Contributions to Grade A Shots (GAS): Even Strength +10/-2; Special Teams +1/-0.

#10 Derek Ryan, 6. Played a solid game in a support role, playing 10 minutes at even strength during which Oilers held a 6-2 edge on the shot clock. Drew a penalty, won 6/7=86% of his faceoffs, and twice helped his goaltender get a whistle by tapping the puck back into his pads. GAS: +0/-0; ST 0.

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#13 Mattias Janmark, 6. As with Ryan, his line controlled possession and shot share and got into very little trouble. Chipped in 1:31 on the penalty kill, most among forwards, on a rare perfect (2 for 2) night for that unit. GAS +2/-0; ST 0.

#14 Mattias Ekholm, 7. Heavily involved offensively with 12 shot attempts, 6 of them on goal, and a primary assist on Bouchard’s 2-1 tally. Took the puck hard to the net 3 different times, the last of those in overtime. Beaten on 2 goals against, notably the goalie-out tying goal where he either played it poorly or lost his balance at a critical moment. Played a team-high 24:38, 3 seconds more than his partner Bouchard. Solid on the penalty kill. Made a great line change in overtime with Oilers in full possession that allowed Bouchard to jump on the ice and engineer the game winner. GAS: ES +5/-3; ST 0.

#18 Zach Hyman, 6. Appeared to be fighting through an injury of some sort to his right shoulder, but fight through it he did with a gutsy performance that included 7 shot attempts. No points to show for it, but helped his line dominate. GAS: ES: +5/-0; ST +1/-0.

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#19 Adam Henrique, 6. Very noticeable with 5 shots on net. 7/13=54% on the dot, though 2 faceoff losses in the d-zone led directly to Grade A shots, including the game-tying goal. Took a penalty. GAS: ES +3/-3; ST 0.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 7. Played 23:27 in a team-high 30 shifts, including over 10 minutes at 5v5 with 2 different partners, Stecher (10:39) and Kulak (10:31). Becoming ever more comfortable when paired with the latter, which he also was on the PK in this one. Strong defensively throughout, with just 1 high danger chance against on his watch. Kept a clean sheet entirely on Grade A shots. 2 shots, 2 blocks, 2 hits. GAS: ES +3/-0; ST 0.

#27 Brett Kulak, 6. Another 20-minute game for the veteran d-man who is enjoying the best stretch of his time in Edmonton and likely of his career just now. Lots of positive plays. Did however get burned on the 3-2 when he was unable to contain his man, hulking Anders Lee, who banged home a rebound. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST 0.

#28 Connor Brown, 6. “Thirteen quiet minutes”. Played a solid two-way game. Strong on the penalty kill, smartly holding the puck and taking it deep into enemy territory to kill time rather than simply icing it down. The shift he and linemates Henrique and Janmark played immediately after the top unit had put the club back in front 2-1, continuously cycling the puck deep in enemy territory, was pitch perfect. GAS: ES +3/-1; ST 0.

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#29 Leon Draisaitl, 9. Scored on both of his shots, opening the scoring by beating Sorokin high glove and closing it by beating him high blocker. In between times pushed the play, was an absolute load when carrying the puck through traffic, made a variety of fine passes, and gave up nothing defensively. 10/18=56% on the dot, including the all-important opening draw of overtime that essentially established possession for Edmonton for the entirety of the 1:52 that ensued. GAS: ES +8/-0; ST +2/-0.

#33 Viktor Arvidsson, 5. Effort was there but didn’t seem to get a lot accomplished. GAS: ES +1/-1; ST 0.

#49 Ty Emberson, 6. His big contribution was on the PK, where he found himself on the first pairing with Ekholm with both playing a team-high  2:28 at the discipline with zero issues whatsoever. Landed another booming hit, this one on NYI’s impressive Russian “rookie” Maxim Tsyplakov, 1 of just 7 credited to the Oilers on this night. 6 shot attempts, though none were on goal. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 0.

#51 Troy Stecher, 6. Battled hard and won more than his share. In the face of his opponents all night long. Made a fine play to extinguish what appeared to be an odd-man opportunity. GAS: ES +1/-2; ST 0. 

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#53 Jeff Skinner, 4. Still struggling to find his spot, which currently seems to be on the fourth line. Didn’t help his cause one bit when he was badly burned by Ryan Pulock on the second Isles’ goal, in which he failed to contain either the man or the puck leading directly to a dangerous shot and rebound. Just 1 shot. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST 0.

#74 Stuart Skinner, 5. Did just enough to get the win. No real bad goals against, though he did get fooled a little by Tsyplakov’s deceptive pass to Kyle Palmieri on the 1-1. Beaten twice from close range by veteran sniper Anders Lee in the third. Mistakes in front of him on both, but not unreasonable to expect a save on one or the other. 22 shots, 19 saves, .864 save percentage. 

#90 Corey Perry, 6. Made one of his patented power moves to gain inside position and fire a hard shot at Sorokin. In the dying seconds of the first he caused all kinds of disturbance at the edge of the crease as the Oilers pounded 3 dangerous drives in rapid succession. In the process Perry drew a penalty that led directly to Edmonton opening the scoring on the powerplay in the first minute of the following frame. GAS: ES +4/-0; ST 0.

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#92 Vasily Podkolzin, 5. Some good, some bad. Made a wonderful stretch pass to Draisaitl that created a promising situation. Continued to display some rough edges defensively, which on this night included a nasty turnover in the defensive slot. Skinner had his back that time. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST 0. 

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 7. Returned to the first line with McDavid and Hyman and had a good showing. Terrific shot shares. Somewhat culpable on the 1-1 when he was a split second late to affect Tsyplakov’s pass to the Palmieri. Made up for that and then some with a beautiful behind-the-back pass to McDavid for the 3-1. Keyed the overtime winner by recognizing the situation, feeding the puck to Bouchard and making the smart line change that within seconds resulted in the game winner. GAS: ES +4/-1; ST 0.

#97 Connor McDavid, 10. Dominant performance. Involved in all 4 Edmonton goals, scoring once and setting up the other 3 to run his career points total to 999. Got the powerplay to work by moving his legs to open up a passing lane, then threading that lane with a perfect feed to Draisaitl for the 1-0. Hit the post seconds before the 2-1, but cleaned up the mess by recovering the rebound and immediately starting the next cycle, which worked. Scored the third himself on a give-and-go with RNH that he slotted from the backhand side. Then set up the overtime winner by jumping into the play on a line change and feeding a perfectly-weighted pass to Draisaitl for the finish.   Was involved in numerous other threatening plays only for he and his teammates to be thwarted by Sorokin, for example the slick through pass he put on Bouchard’s tape for a clean look at the doorstep. Directly involved in a stunning 19 of the 26 Grade A shots the Oilers produced on this night while maintaining a clean sheet at the other end of the sheet. 14 shot attempts, 8 of them on goal, and at that might have been accused of overpassing a time or two. His best game of the young season by a country mile. GAS: ES +17/-0; ST +2/-0.  

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