Ratings: St. Louis Blues win to tear Edmonton Oilers apart

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The Edmonton Oilers went as bad as a team could get in such a tight game as the Blues won 2-0 on Saturday afternoon.

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The Oilers out-checked, out-passed, and look completely out of sync. Edmonton’s vaunted attack looked clunky and was unable to make dangerous passes.

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The iffy play continued late into the game when the Oilers screwed up a crucial power play with some unwise turnovers.

In the end, Edmonton was only able to muster four Class A shots all game after averaging 16.5 Class A shots per game in the first four games of the year.

The Blues had eight Class A shots in this low-event (running count) competition.

Another standout stat, the Blues with 23 blocked shots to just eight for Edmonton.

Connor McDavid, 4. Not much bad, not much good. He made a huge contribution to just one Class A shot in the entire game. He played quietly, as did the rest of Oil’s big guns. He was badly beaten by a Robert Thomas Slot Deke but the Blues forward’s shot missed the top corner. Excited the crowd by juggling the puck with four quick stick strokes as he headed into the St. Lou zone for a tricky backhand shot. But the D-pair of Nick Leddy and Colton Parayko smothered his line, along with two-way ace Ryan O’Reilly.

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Evander Kane, 4. Intimidating smack on Nathan Walker in the first. I did little else until he slammed a McD pass hard into the net midway through the third. He led the team with six goals.

Kailer Yamamoto, 3. Ineffective game, lost too many battles. He played the third-most all forwards in the Oilers at 19:20, but didn’t deserve that ice cream.

Leon Draisaitl, 5. His ill-advised O-Zone trip penalty in the first resulted in St. Louis’ first goal. Had a good excitement late in the second round setting up RNH and then set up Hyman with a nifty slot feed early in the third. Good job on the back check to thwart a St. Louis 2-on-1 in the third. It came off a hard and sneaky high slot wrister late in the game. He lost the faceoff that led to the Blues’ empty net.

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Ryan Nugent Hopkins, 3. Didn’t do his best. Finally, he made play late in the second when Drai made a low-high pass and RNH drove a hard wister deep into the net. Thrown the puck away on the power play on the third at a crucial moment.

Zach Hyman, 5. Hard pushed but to no effect apart from a dangerous shot in the third.

Ryan McLeod, 7. The Oil’s best player other than Jack Campbell. His line came out well on precheck and was Oil’s best line all game. He set up Murray into the slot with a low-high feed late in the second round, but Murray missed the net. Some decent physical game. On the other hand, he only won three out of 12 face-offs.

Warren Foegele, 6. Had pushed hard and almost burst through to a break-through chance late in the second only to lose grip.

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Jesse Puljujarvi, 6. Played his role in the only Oilers line to perform well in the game.

Derek Ryan, 4. Quiet game. Not effective.

Devinufer, 4. Got a decent shot into the net early in the second. A short time later, he was checked and the puck removed, resulting in a blues 5-alarm.

Darnell Nurse, 5th Good defense, no offense in a team high 26 minutes. A change in the second period resulted in an extended St. Lou ozone time. He was showered with four freebies by the official scorer. He made a solid sliding stop in the D-Zone slot late in the game. He kept a clean sheet at even strength, not making a single big mistake on a Class A shot against him.

Cody Ceci, 6. The loss wasn’t great. Solid split early in the game of a spooky blues 2-on-1. Like Nurse, he kept a clean sheet but these two couldn’t cause much offence.

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Tyson Barrie, 4. Fumbled the puck twice in his own zone early in the second resulting in a dangerous Blues shot. Not his best game at defending or moving the puck.

Brett Kulak, 3. Pooh. Some bad, bad moments on his own end. His total eclipse of the sun screen on Jack Campbell caused St. Louis’ first goal. A moment later, I nearly got him back with a nifty backhand slot shot. For the second time in his year, he wiped out running backwards and allowed an opposing striker on a breakaway, but Campbell stopped Jordan Kyrou where he’d previously failed to Nazem Kadri. Late in the second, Kulak coughed up the puck, resulting in a nasty St. Louis pass-and-tip from Justin Faulk to O’Reilly.

Eva Bouchard, 6. Some bad, more good. Sweet slot pass on kulak resulted in 5 alarm shot early. Had his outlet pass picked up in the second resulting in a monster kyrou one timer. He beat a three-man pre-check with a fine pass and unleashed a dangerous oil rush in the third.

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Markus Niemelainen, 6. Solid two-way play where he uses his large body to advantage. He also kept clean on Class A shots of consistent power. I’m not sure why he played three minutes less than Murray for the same strength.

Ryan Murray, 2. Didn’t come close to getting the job done. Creepy D-zone sales in the first. His failed pinch early in the third led to a dangerous onslaught from Jake Neighbors. Too much gap leading to a cross ice pass and Brandon Saad’s harpoon moments later.

Jack Campell, 8. He gave oil a chance to make a comeback. Time and time again, the Campbell-named Soup cleaned up dreadful mistakes made by Oil d-men. No real chance of St Lou’s first goal as Kulak blocks his view and Krug’s great shot. Huge stop early as Kyrou interrupted a breakaway with the sticktap of shame coming from the stumbling kulak. Foiled the dangerous Kyrou snipe, O’Reilly backhander and Kyrou one-timer in the second, with his save against Kyrou’s harpoon a possible game-changer, and with turnover offender Bouchard giving Campbell the sticktap of shame in the event. Came up again on O’Reilly’s tip-shot late in the second second.

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