Ratings: Another comeback fails as Oilers switches to goalie from Sabers

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Saber 4, oiler 2

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It was a rare showdown between the Edmonton-born goalies Tuesday night right in their hometown. One of them ends up stealing the show; Unfortunately for fans of the hometown Oilers, it was the man in visiting color. Eric Comrie was the story, stopping 46 of 48 shots to lead the Buffalo Sabers to a 4-2 win.

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From the Oilers’ perspective, they had a much better first period than their previous two games and a dominant third. Unfortunately, they had a mid-frame bug that came back to bite them in the (rear) end.

The Sabers broke up a 1-1 draw with two goals in the first 5 minutes of that second half and then held for their lives the rest of the way. The Oilers didn’t let much happen in the second second but took the game by the throat in the third, pumping 24 shots at Comrie but managing to get one past him in just a minute and a half. An empty Netzer on death restored the Sabers’ 2-goal lead for the official record.

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The loss may also have cost the Oilers the services of an exciting rookie Dylan Holloway who left the game after being demolished by Buffalo defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin with a legal but vicious hit on open ice.

The stats say the Oilers were the better team that night: 79-45 on shot attempts, 48-24 on shots, 26-10 on high danger chances (per the Natural Stat trick). According to our counts at the ice hockey cult18-10 inches Class A shots and 13-5 in 5-bell opportunities. However, Edmonton turned the puck 18 times to Buffalo’s 11 and 2 of those turnovers led directly to Saber’s goals. Details matter.

Note: While this was a disappointing result, I think the Oilers played well enough to win this matchup 4 out of 5 times; this happened to be the other 1. No reason to smack everyone with bad grades when the process improved significantly but the other team’s goalie was upside down.

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player grades

#2 Evan Bouchard, 5th Would have hammered 6 shots into the net and maybe should have flown a few more times when in good position. A few shaky moments behind his own blue line, one of which resulted in a costly RNH penalty after Bouchard lost his lane. Outstanding shots share less than 16 minutes of ice time but only 1 contribution to a Class A shot – a keep-in at the blueline.

#5 Cody Ceci, 5th Earn an assist on Nurse’s goal with a play deep in his own territory. Beaten the other way on 3 Class A shots. 0 shot attempts. Drilled Jeff Skinner with a heavy punch.

#13 Jesse Puljujarvi, 6th A solid night’s work with 6 shot attempts, 3 hits and a ton of battles won. The best of his 3 Note-A-Shot contributions was a beautiful chip pass that sent Hyman alone into the game.

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#14 Devin Shores, 5th Played only 5:37 as an extra striker, interfered a bit on penalties and blocked 2 shots.

#18 Zach Hyman, 6th Another hard working game but no rewards on the scorer list. Had a great chance to level the game in the last minute but couldn’t bury it.

#22 Tyson Barrie, 5. Led Oilers D-Men in the Ice Age with 21:59, 5 minutes down in a power play session that threatened but ultimately failed to score. Heavy shooting but was caught by JJ Peterka’s escape goal which turned out to be a game winner.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 6th Very noticeable throughout the night, mostly in a good way, if not quite as much. He scored a nice goal for the 1-1 level just 23 seconds after the Sabers opened the scoring, first taking the puck to Draisaitl and then blasting the ice for the back pass, which he knocked home. Beaten by a power move on an amazing goal by 6’7 Days Thompson. Had stolen the puck from Alex Tuch for a breakout chance but tried hard on the back check to interfere with the actual shot. Odd numbers throughout the event summary, highlighted by 7 shots on target and 4 giveaways. Drawn a penalty early, shot (a dubious one) late.

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#27 Brett Kulak, 5th Quiet game. Keeps things pretty clean on the back end.

#28 Ryan Murray, 5th Very quiet. He also kept order in Edmonton’s zone, which is his main job. Penalty drawn.

#29 Leon Draisaitl, 5th He played about 80% of a great game, had excellent shot percentages (shots were 19-7 Oilers during his 16½ minutes at 5v5) and hit 12(!) Class A shots for just 2 against. Unfortunately, both of the latter turnovers were on the offensive blueline that ended up lighting the lamp at the bad end of the rink, while only one of the 12 positive contributions ended in an Edmonton goal. 5 giveaways in the evening. 16/27 = 59% on the faceoff point at 24:12 of the action. How do you rate that? I chose a mere passing grade, but a high-event grade, to say the least.

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#37 Warren Foegele, 5th Competent but unobtrusive. His most important moment was an unintentional one when his headman pass to Holloway sent the rookie straight into the trolley rails for a fierce hit. Foegele batted for the kid, resulting in a Buffalo power play. 2 shots, 4 hits, 2 takeaways, but 0 contributions to Grade A shots.

#55 Dylan Holloway, 4th The NHL has proven to be a tough nut to crack for the rookie ever since games started counting real points. This one ended really badly and way too soon when he was crushed by all 6’2, 208lb Lyubushkin in the open ice. Played almost 5 minutes before, including time on each special team.

#56 Kailer Yamamoto, 4th Quiet night offensive with only 1 shot. 2 posts on Class A shots but part of the problem on 3 the other way including the game winner when he joined the 4v3 onslaught but seemed surprised by Draisaitl’s pass and couldn’t handle it.

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#71 Ryan McLeod, 4th No problems on defense (apart from a hook penalty), but not much happening offensively. He went offside on a charge that the referee missed, but would certainly have disallowed a goal if one had been scored (Yamamoto hit the crossbar). He later screwed up another zone entry by holding the puck too long, resulting in McDavid pulling up. 0 shots.

#74 Stuart Skinner, 5th A few decent stops. Was hit from distance by a well-placed Rasmus Dahlin drive to open the scoring. Barely had a shot at Thompson’s terrific swoop, Deke and Tuck. 23 shots, 20 saves, .870 save rate.

#80 Markus Niemelainen, 5th Played only 6:45 with 0 shots, 3 hits. Made an important stop and used his long reach to put a slot pass out of harm’s way. His biggest exposure came when he streaked on ice in a 4-man onslaught by the Oilers, leaving only Barrie to tend the shop when the puck suddenly went the other way.

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#91 Evander Kane, 6th Full event summary showing 11 shot attempts, 5 shots on target, 7 hits, 2 giveaways. Very hard effort but no finish at all on a night when the oil was in dire need of something.

#93 Ryan Nugent Hopkins, 6th Took the skate of shame early in the game, just after taking a hook penalty that defeated the Oilers 4-on-3. Contributed to 8 Class A shots and received 7 shots in the net to tie Nurse for the team lead. Eventually, Comrie broke with an excellent one-timer above, but it was too little too late. 3/10=30% in face-off circle.

#97 Connor McDavid, 7th Fairly calm over 40 minutes before exploding in a dominant third period. From the first shift to the last of that final frame, McDavid was all over the puck and in the Buffalo zone, but like his buddies, he couldn’t untie the keeper. Made a number of fine passes straight into the blue color but Comrie did a brilliant job of sealing the ice. He finally got the late go as he fished a loose puck back to RNH with just enough room to get some air under the puck. Was sent down by Dahlin in a game where the home crowd cried after a penalty but none was imminent. 9/16=56% to the point. Played a tremendous 26:52 including 10:14 convincing hockey in the last frame.

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