Player grades: Connor McDavid brilliant but even that’s not enough to beat Boston Bruins
Yamo #Yamo
Two lightning attacks and two excellent finishes earned Connor McDavid two goals and his first 50 goal season. But for the second game in a row, the brilliance of the captain wasn’t enough to give the Edmonton Oilers the win.
Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner was slow to a loose puck late in the second, Boston slammed it home to attain a lead 3-2, then shut down the game with hard, methodical checking in the third, the kind of effort and execution that defines the NHL’s best team.
In the end, Edmonton had six Grade A shots, Boston 11, while in the subset of 5-alarm shots, Edmonton had one, Boston five ( running count ).
Connor McDavid, 8. Most players can’t score coming down the wing and shooting from the dot. But McDavid is not most players. He scores from there consistently, due to his lightning speed and tricky fast shot, and he did so on Edmonton’s first shot of the game. He turned the puck over at the offensive blueline, kicking off the Sequence of Pain on Boston’s second goal. He failed to sink a late first period harpoon into the back of the Boston net. On his career-first 50th goal, he took a slot pass and deked out the Boston goalie. He did great work on the late penalty kill, almost setting up two goals on the 3-on-5 situation.
Kailer Yamamoto, 5. He missed the net on a golden opportunity in the first. He tipped a dangerous shot on net half-way through the second. He took an ill-advised hooking penalty in the second. He took a McDavid pass and snapped an in-tight Grade A shot on net early in the third .
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. He came out battling and back-checking hard and kept it up all game but like the rest of his teammates he was unable to break through and score .
Zach Hyman, 4. He did not have his legs going this game. He gave up a dangerous slot shot off the post late in the third. One or two strong shift sin the third where he deked out a few Bruins and got off one sneaky outside shot, but too little, too late.
Leon Draisaitl, 5. He sent in McDavid for his first goal with a heads up stretch pass. He failed to notice Tyson Barrie helping lead the attack, didn’t cover for him and Boston got a 2-on-1 and its second goal as a result. He stole the puck and set up McD for a wicked shot late in the first, only the second Grade A shot for the Oilers this game. Great work late in the game, but Edmonton couldn’t score.
Warren Foegele, 5 . He intercepted a dangerous pass into Pastrnak in the first. Other than that, not much to report good or bad.
Derek Ryan, 4. He played little and got little done.
Ryan McLeod, 5. He got on the wrong side of his man and allowed a hard rush out of the corner and Grade A shot on net early in the second. He made a threatening slap pass to set up Yamamoto in the second.
Mattias Janmark, 6. He had his feet going and was dangerous on the attack. But he failed to deposit a brilliant dagger of a pass by Foegele into the wide-open Boston net early in the second.
Klim Kostin, 5. Plenty of good and plenty of bad this game. Nasty and inexplicable mental error early in the game, giving up on his check Nosek in the slot, only to see Nosek take a pass and score. He took out his anguish a moment later, jackhammering Clifton into the end boards. He followed that up with a Grand Slam hit in the second, blasting Hampus Lindholm off the ice and into the Oilers bench. He fully redeemed his earlier mistake charging into the o-zone to gather in the puck, protect it under pressure, then feed it to McDavid for Edmonton’s second goal. He went into the corner hard with Krejci in the third, but Krejci’s own stick hit him in the face and cut him. His highstick on Brad Marchard, though, with 4:30 left in the game killed off Edmonton’s chances.
Jesse Puljujarvi, 5. He looked nervous with the puck in the first, which is all too common in his game just now. The gangly-octo player picked off a Boston pass and got off a slot shot in the second, before breaking up a 3-on-2 a moment later with a determined backcheck .
Darnell Nurse, 6. His muffed clearance pass behind the net kicked off the Sequence of Pain on Boston’s first goal. He made a slot shot block off Marchand late in the second. He allowed a pass into the slot on Boston’s third goal. He failed to drain a dangerous one-timer shot on the late 3-on-5 rush. He led the team with seven blocked shots.
Cody Ceci, 5. His clearance fired up the Virtuous Cycle leading to Edmonton’s second goal. He lost a battle in front of the net on Boston’s third goal . He led the team with hour hits .
Tyson Barrie, 5. He failed to cover off DeBrusk on a first period 5-alarm shot.
Brett Kulak, 4. He was the primary culprit on Boston’s second goal, playing too high on the 2-on-1 and allowing Nick Foligno in behind him. He deflected a shot out of trouble on a 4-on-2 Boston rush late in the second.
Evan Bouchard, 5. He set up Yamamoto for a harpoon in the first, but Yamo’s aim was not true. He turned over the puck, leading to a late first period 5-alarm shot by Jake DeBrusk. He did some strong stickhandling to advance the puck this game. He passed up a golden opportunity to drill Pastrnak into the boards with 3:50 left in the second.
Philip Broberg, 5. Solid when he was out there in limited time. He kept a clean sheet at even strength, not one mistake on a Grade A shot against.
Vincent Desharnais. 7. He made three excellent blocks on Pastrnak in the third. Looked good out there in limited opportunity.
Stuart Skinner, 4. He let in three goals on 9 Grade A shots in the first two periods, which is about one too many. He failed to stop the first two 5-alarm shots by the Bruins. He was slow to a loose puck on Boston’s third goal, turning himself into prime culprit on the goal against. He did make an awesome stop on Marchand late in the third, but the game was over by then.