Player ratings: The Oilers’ comeback effort remains short after another lazy first period

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Flames 4, oiler 3

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Three words to describe Saturday night’s Edmonton Oilers game against the Calgary Flames: sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

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Sloppy coverage, sloppy passing, sloppy line changes.

Sloppiness was paramount in a pathetic first period that featured the starting keeper Jack Campell Benched on TV’s second time-out after conceding 4 goals from 11 shots. Stuart Skinner came to slam the door for the final 50 minutes and give his team a chance, but the Oilers couldn’t capitalize.

I can only conclude that the ice surface itself was a poor show as the Oilers in particular struggled to control the constantly bouncing puck let alone make a decent pass with it. That said, they got away with a couple of wispy chances right on the doorstep in the final seconds of somehow stealing a point from it.

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Conclusion: They didn’t do it and they didn’t deserve it. The guests were the much better team, especially in the first and third third, knocking out the Oilers 42:27 that evening and having a whopping 19:14 lead Class A shots (preliminary count).

player grades

#2 Evan Bouchard, 4th An ugly -3 on the night and full value for 2 of them, losing a fight at 1-0 in his first shift and missing a pitch at 4-1. Like the season opener, he gradually worked his way into the game, but again the Oil were 3 goals behind. A good game to roll into the slot and fire off with 2½ minutes to go but hit Dan Vladar straight into the breadbasket. 5 hits.

#5 Cody Ceci, 4th He pulled off a nice shot from the slot to briefly level the score at 1-1 in the first but had a very tough night at the other end where he finished with 9 Class A chances, 5 of even strength and 4 further under the The culprit was the power play. Complicit in the 4-1 with a terribly late and slow line change that left his replacement Murray in scramble mode. Had trouble clearing the zone on a dominant Flames power play on the third, despite contributing a keyshot block towards the end of that sequence.

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#10 Derek Ryan, 5th 8 quiet minutes played. Decent not big on the PK. 3/3 = 100% on faceoff spot.

#13 Jesse Puljujarvi, 4th Among the many oilers who struggled to handle the puck cleanly. 0 shots. Came back hard on the backcheck to make it 4-1 but ultimately veered away from the net front where the eventual damage was done. Contributed 3 hits and some decent work to make room in the low slot.

#18 Zach Hyman, 4th Played a role in what turned out to be a costly first-half penalty when he handled the puck before his teammate had cleared the ice surface. Received a boarding penalty when Rasmus Anderson suddenly dodged after fumbling the puck (pictured). Later pulled a call the other way. 3 hits but only 1 shot and a critical touch on a big chance in the blue varnish literally in the last second.

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#22 Tyson Barrie, 5. A decent performance with 22 minutes ice time, 6 shot attempts and 2 hits. Had a couple of tricky penalties.

#24 Brad Malone, 5. Rarely used fourth-liner brought the physical game with 4 hits in just 5 minutes. The hardest part came when he crushed Chris Tanev with a heavy punch.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 5th Some good defensive moments with a fine stop on a 2v1 charge and 5 shot blocks that really pay the price for one of the drives he thwarted. But nothing goes offensively with 0 shots to the net and 4 giveaways.

#27 Brett Kulak, 4th At 3-1, he couldn’t hide as he stumbled and fell while defending a routine 1v1 attack, allowing Nazem Kadri to come in with a clear breakaway and score. That wasn’t his only difficulty with defensive cover, just his most glaring. Took a careless high prison sentence early in the third and watched the subsequent horror show from the sin box.

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#28 Ryan Murray, 3rd Had struggled behind his own blueline and was burned for 3 goals conceded. Lost his man and didn’t find the puck at 1-0 either. Struggled to contain his check creating a partial screen at 2-1. Badly hit by the attack, he couldn’t clean up a loose rebound in the blue paint to make it 4:1. Gave McLeod a deft pass at 4-3 but overall not a positive night.

#29 Leon Draisaitl, 6th An immense amount of work at 25:01 in the night. Earned a pair of secondary assists on the first 2 Oilers goals and came close to tying it very late when his high backhand hit the pommel of Vladar’s bat. Took 29 draws and won 14 of them (48%). However, not his A-game.

#36 Jack Campbell, 2nd For the second game in a row he allowed 2 goals in the first 5 minutes. This time, however, he was unable to stem the bleed and allowed 2 more in the next 5 before receiving the mercy move. Not much defensive help, to say the least, but the Oilers needed their new captain to put out a fire or two and it just wasn’t happening. Threw some tricky rebounds straight back into the slot where they were quickly converted. Beaten off the boards on a Michael Stone Bomb and a Nazem Kadri Breakaway Deke. 11 shots, 7 saves, .636 save rate.

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#37 Warren Foegele, 5th Solid performance with little to show for it. 2 shots, 2 hits.

#55 Dylan Holloway, 4th Slightly unlucky on Calgary’s first goal, when he got a chunk of the point shot that turned it into an agonizingly slow knuckleball that somehow escaped the layers of Oilers defenders behind him and made it into the net. Had 3 official hits but little impact on the game. 0 shot attempts in 8:25 action.

#56 Kailer Yamamoto, 5. An assist to make it 1-1 when his prayer pass came through the high slot was answered by Ceci’s stick. Otherwise calm.

#71 Ryan McLeod, 5th With a skillful shot from close range, he scored the 4:3. Otherwise a mediocre game with weak fundamentals (Oilers was shot 8-2 in his 10 minutes at Evens). Penalty conceded. Clean face-off defeat in a 2-1 goal.

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#74 Stuart Skinner, 9th Came into play with the Oilers in critical condition, 4-1 down with 2½ periods to go. Slammed the door from there and stopped all 31 shots he was subjected to, including a dozen Class A shots, to keep his buddies within shouting distance. Not his fault they were running out of time. It was only because of Skinner’s good performance that the Oilers had those late shots on an equalizer. Too bad for his sake they couldn’t produce one. 31 shots, 31 saves, 1,000 save percentage.

#91 Evander Kane, 6th Another high event game with 6 shots, 4 hits, 3 freebies and a nice assist on McDavid’s power play goal. Penalty drawn. Seemed to have the equalizer on the stick in the final seconds but couldn’t get a powerful shot away.

#93 Ryan Nugent Hopkins, 6th Played a diligent game, taking part in the battles in the trenches, producing a few dangerous shots along the way. Chipped onto 7 Grade A recordings from The Oil.

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#97 Connor McDavid, 7th Relatively quiet night which for him can still include such stats as 4 shots, 2 hits, a takeaway, 4/7 on the face off spot, a penalty shootout and 7 contributions to Class A shots in 23½ minutes of ice time. And, oh yes, a goal, already his 4th in the young season. Like most players, he struggled to get the puck to rest, which I interpreted as particularly compelling evidence that the ice was choppy for this preseason.

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