Player rating: Oilers fight but lose Game 2

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Oilers 1, Stars 3

For a while, things looked good for the Edmonton Oilers. They outshot the Dallas Stars 16-4 in the first period, including a 9-3 advantage in Grade A shots, but were only just 1-1 behind in the most important number of goals. From there, the Stars gradually gained the upper hand, controlling play in the middle frames and scoring the go-ahead goal on a deflection early in the third period. From there, it was check, check, check, with one stick in the passing lanes, one man (or two) in the shooting lanes and precious little open ice to skate with the puck.

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Gradually, the momentum of the game changed and the Oilers went from not being able to make shots to not being able to make shots. Edmonton’s shots went from 16 in the first period to eight in the second to just five in the third. Grade A shots went from nine to three to just two. Expected goals went from 2.3 to 0.7 to 0.5, and actual goals went from 1 to 0 to 0. Ultimately, the Oilers were unable to score the tying goal. It wasn’t for a lack of effort. This was a hard-fought battle all over the sheet.

There were 14 Grade A shots apiece on the night, with Dallas holding a 6-4 advantage in the subset of five warning shots.

Overall, the win/loss splits in the first two games in Dallas have been fair for both teams.

Player Rating

#2 Evan Bouchard, 6. As always, Edmonton controlled the flow of the game when their Aces defenseman was on the field, hitting 72% of their shots in 23 minutes of 5-on-5 play, with 13 of those coming off Booch’s own stick. Unfortunately, nine of those were blocked, and Dallas clearly viewed those shots as a defensive focus, making key defensive plays to clear dangerous rebounds. Grade A Shot Contributions (GAS): Even Strength +2/-2, Special Teams 0.

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#5 Cody Ceci, 5. On Dallas’ first goal, he was beaten by an inability to keep the puck at the offensive blue line, but the real problem came in the coverage behind him. He helped bring that goal back on the same shift, receiving a great outlet pass from Vogel, diving into the rush to get the puck to Brown, who hit the return pass into the net to create the rebound, which Brown scored. Gas: ES +2/-1; ST0.

#10 Derek Ryan, 3. His inability to clear the puck along the defensive boards was a big factor in the outcome of this game. To me, it looked like he was waiting for a soft outlet pass to come to him instead of skating to the puck to defend it, and he was quickly overwhelmed by a hard check from Sam Steele that led directly to a point shot. The offense was lackluster, with zero shots on goal, just 19 seconds on the penalty kill, and just one on the power play before an empty-net goal sealed the game. The shot share was underwhelming with just 18% expected goals. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST0.

#13 Matthias Janmark, 7. They had an effective fourth line and played a high energy, intense game, skating for miles, creating some great chances and not giving anything away. Gas: ES +2/-0; ST0.

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#14 Mattias Ekholm, 6. The closest any Oilers player came to tying the score was when he received a nice pass from Draisaitl in the slot and tested Jake Oettinger with a shot from high on the stick side, forcing a spectacular save. Gas: ES +1/-1; ST0.

#18 Zach Hyman, 6. He was completely taken by Oettinger on a jam shot in front of the goal in the first period, with seven shot attempts and only two hitting the goal. GAS: +1/-0; ST 0.

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#25 Darnell Nurse, 5. He played a lot of solid plays, but had some covering issues. He got a penalty along the way, but the video evidence (above) shows it was a poor call. His biggest issue was a terrible line change in the sequence that led directly to the empty-net goal that sealed the win. Gas: ES +2/-4; ST0.

#27 Brett Clark, 3. He couldn’t stop Dallas’ first rush for goal, but in fairness, he was outnumbered. He spent too much time in his own end (+8/-17 shots at even strength in 15 minutes). He blocked four of Edmonton’s nine shots on the night, but didn’t contribute any on the good end and was a victim of several scoring chances. His expected goals percentage of 21% stands out in a negative way. Gas: ES +0/-4; ST +0/-1.

#28 Connor Brown, 7. Finally, the big goal everyone was expecting came. He fed Ceci in front of the goal, who pounced on the rebound and smashed it into the goal, making the score 1-1 less than five minutes into the game. He also showed off his superior speed on a few other rushes. His defence was solid as always, but he lost one battle inside the Edmonton blue line before he had a dangerous opportunity. Gas: ES +3/-1; ST0.

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#29 Leon Draisaitl, 6. His 13-game point streak was finally snapped, but it wasn’t for a lack of opportunities. He created plenty of opportunities for the wingers, including Ekholm’s best chance in Edmonton’s final minutes. He bounced back nicely from a dismal 8-for-29 performance at the faceoff dot in Game 1 to go 13-for-21 for a 62% win rate, including a perfect 8-for-8 in his own half. However, only two shots hit the net. Gas: ES +5/-3; ST0.

#37 Warren Fogel, 6. The secondary assist on Brown’s goal finally got him on the scoreboard for the first time in 12 games — a nice backhand pass that created a rush — and he led the Oilers with a couple of shots on net and three hits. Gas: ES +4/-0; ST0.

#39 Sam Carrick, 5. Solid effort. Set up Brown for a decent slot shot, but with two linemates driving to the net he might have been better off shooting the puck. 0 shots all night, about 9 minutes for him. 2 hits, 4/7 = 57% accuracy. Gas: ES +1/-1; ST0.

#55 Dylan Holloway, 4. He played about 90% of the game pretty well, but made costly mistakes on Dallas’ first and third goals. On the first goal, he was in good position to back up Ceci just outside the offensive zone, but didn’t move his feet and was caught off guard by the resulting 1-on-2 rush. On the last goal, he was also involved in a botched line change that turned what should have been a 6-on-5 into a 4-on-5 that was an immediate disaster. He was crushed by a suicide pass from Kane, but got up and continued to play unfazed. He himself allowed 2 hits, 2 shots and 2 passes. Gas: ES +2/-1; ST0.

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#71 Ryan McLeod, 4. There’s the good, the bad and the ugly. His shift in the final minute of the first period shown above falls into the latter category. He couldn’t stop a shot from outside that deflected off the goal for the game-winning point. He’s been trying to get more physically involved, quietly racking up 15 hits in his last six games, but his offensive game has been dormant, with zero points in the playoffs. His shot share is impressive, but the results aren’t coming. Gas: ES +1/-2; ST0.

#73 Vincent Desharnais, 3. She got a key assist from Skinner and made some hard runs in her own half, and that was the night she wrote it off as she couldn’t get Marchment to tie the score with a crucial 2-1 goal. GAS: +0/-5; ST 0.

#74 Stuart Skinner, 7. The night got off to a tough start for him, losing his opening game to a powerful wrist shot from Jamie Benn, but he bounced back hard and made a number of great saves to keep his team in the game at 1-1. He got lucky on a wild scramble in front of the goal, but was clearly unlucky on what would have been the winning shot, which was deflected and ricocheting hard off the ice, creating a small crack between his arm and his body. 24 shots taken, 22 saves, .917 save percentage.

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#91 Evander Kane, 7. They drove hard all night but just couldn’t get any bounces around the net, with the Oilers forwards attempting nine shots and every skater on both teams putting five shots on net, including two hits in 18 very heated minutes of action. Gas: ES +5/-0; ST0.

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 4. After three straight impressive games, nothing happened offensively with zero shots and zero contributions to clear chances, and they were forced to settle for 2C in the closing stages. Gas: ES +0/-0; ST +0/-1.

#97 Connor McDavid, 6. His first substitution was a harbinger: He rushed in at breakneck speed and a bad pass led to a jailbreak the other way, but he came back and played great defense to deny the chance and then took a hard hit on Chris Tanev on his way to the bench, setting the stage for a joyless night despite his best efforts, with just one shot on net, a wraparound in the first period. Gas: ES +3/-2; ST0.

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