March 27, 2022 • 13 hours ago • 8 minutes reading • 18 comments Oilers defender Brett Kulak (27) falls into the net in front of Calgary Flames goalkeeper Jacob Markstrom and Noah Hanifin in Calgary on Saturday, March 26, 2022 Photo by Jim Wells / Postmedia
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Oilers 5, Flames 9
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One such troubled team is the Edmonton Oilers 2021-22. Eventually they understand how to win steadily on the ice at home and lose 5 in a row on the road. They take huge steps in their 5v5 game only to lose the plot to special teams. And then follows a game like Saturday night, where they reverse this trend, scoring 3 goals in powerplay while killing all 4 of their own penalties, only to play their worst game in memory with equal strength. This was particularly difficult against their potential opponents, as the Oilers scored 3 goals in each season and absorbed the 9-5 victory over the Calgary Flames. On national television, natch. The visitors scored enough on their own to make a game for a while, scoring in the first and last minute of the first period and then scoring all 3 of those powerplay goals in midfield to reduce to 6-5. But the game started a key sequence early in the third, Calgary netminder Jacob Markstrom made a dazzling stop by Evander Kane, the Flames came in the second seconds later and scored 7-5, and that was it. Edmonton sent it more or less the rest of the way, winning 16-4 in the third, while allowing the last 9 (nine) Grade A shots of the game as the Flames ran and hid.
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With the numbers, Calgary had an advantage of 76-52 in the shooting attempts, 38-31 in real shots in the goal, 20-12 in grade A shots and 12-8 in 5 alarm shots. These last two measurements, listed in the table here at Cult of Hockey, are described in detail in this (not yet finalized) count. Warning: not for the weak. Fully detailed player ratings are futile under these circumstances, so we will focus mainly on the combined 32-point A and 14 (!) Scoring shots in points and comments.
Player ratings
2 Duncan Keith, 5. The night started well with a nice D-to-D pass in the belt to gain a side assist on Brassard’s goal 32 seconds ago. He lost a 5-4 battle that finally put Calgary ahead to stay. He took a penalty after first coughing the elf deep in his area. Somewhat closed +1 in one night, the Oilers overcame the score 9-2 at 5-5.
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5 Cody Ceci, 2. Not much went well for Ceci, who posted a nasty -5. A bad bite led to 2-1, lost a battle 4-3, allowed a basic pass at 7-5 and was guilty of making it back to 8-5. Nothing happens in the good end either. The only thing that saved his night was a decent job on the penalty spot, in which he played with 3:49 as a team.
13 Jesse Puljujarvi, 5. On the ice for the first 2 goals, 1 in each direction, with little involvement in either. He made a great pass to Kane in the main series early in the third, but the winger could not make the turn. In total he participated in 4 Grade A shots by Oil and an impressive 0 against, without being a mediocre achievement tonight.
14 Devin Shore, 4. He lost his mission at 8-5 when all 3 forwards completely lost the plot allowing a slow-growing 3-on-2 to penetrate deep into the slot without pressure. Absolutely nothing happens at the happy ending. 0 shots or contributions to Grade A shots.
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16 Derick Brassard, 4. He scored the opening goal with a nice edge from the bottom position, but gave it immediately back with tremendous coverage at 1-1. He got a bad penalty kick at the end of the second that made the hill of the third period so steeper to climb.
18 Jacques Hyman, 6. He scored a couple of goals in the Oilers powerplay with a nice pass to Dreisaitl for 3-3 and an effective screen for 6-5. He tied a penalty that led to an extended 5-on-3. He was ahead of all the forwards with 3:23 on the penalty spot. While his -3 at night looks bad, it had nothing to do with any of these Calgary counts.
19 Mikko Koskinen, 3. He started the game and found himself on the bench after just 25 minutes having conceded 5 goals in just 12 shots (0.583 percentage rebounds). The obvious criticism is that the Oilers needed more rebounds than him, but the way he was persistently hung up to dry in split teams, singles rush, cross passes and unprotected shots said more about the team than netminder, at least in the my Goddess. Once he made a big stop, the rebound reached the net from his own player. All 5 goals he scored came in 5 alarm chances and the Flames snipers fired their shots.
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22 Tyson Barrie, 3. He played 23:52 to lead the defense by a wide margin, and fought hard in his honor. However, he lost in a pair of goals in which he could not suppress a significant pass. He played 6 minutes with Nurse during which the Oilers attempted 3 shots while allowing 16. He may, however, be the only Oilers D to actually dismantle a 2-on-1.
25 Darnell Nurse, 2. Another awful game from Edmonton’s top defender, second this week and a very worrying sign. Was he one of the main culprits in the 3 or were Calgary 4 goals (one is still under discussion). Twice he was the last line of defense in a 2-on-1, but he could not cut the pass, in the second case he aggravated the problem when the rebound bounced into Edmonton’s net from his skate. Badly out of place for the winner of Matt Tkatsuk’s fight. He came back and did not challenge the shooter at 8-5. Do -4 at night with some degree of responsibility and at 4. He had nothing aggressive (0 shots) and seemed out of depth sometimes, his usual imposing presence is nowhere to be found. Shocked in joint shots (attempts 11 for, 30 against in less than 16 minutes of 5v5 play). He played a lower season 19:33 and still lit up for the worst season -4. As with Ceci, a decent penalty shootout (at 3:48) saved him from the formidable “1” score, but it was almost something.
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27 Brett Kulak, 3. On the ice for 3 goals against and between the defending defenders in 2 of them. He took a penalty. He was shocked by a big hit by Milan Lucic, but responded with a nice turn when he jumped on, took McDavid’s pass and broke out in a solo rush.
29 Leon Draisaitl, 6. I do not often see a player with 4 points and a score of -4 plus / minus, but that was Leon tonight. He finally scored his first hat-trick of the season with a good snippet late in the first and a pair of powerplay snipers in the first half of the second, and also won an assist in the RNH powerplay. On the bad side of things he was with 5 goals against, making basic defensive mistakes in 2 of them. He had 5 shots on goal to lead the Oilers.
37 Warren Foegele, 3. He lost key battles with consecutive goals in Calgary early in the third as the 1-goal deficit fell to unbeaten 3.
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41 Mike Smith, 3. Came in the middle of the road to clean up but was not very successful in this endeavor. As with Koskinen, he did not receive much help from his teammates, but caused some of his own problems with 3 official gifts to lead the entire team. Very deep in his nets and sinking into the last two goals of the match, a persistent problem this year. 26 shots, 22 saves, 0.846 saves.
44 Zack Kassian, 6. Chip in a side assist in Draisaitl’s power goal. He did not make a single mistake in a Grade A shot against, while he contributed 4 shots and 2 blocked shots.
56 Kailer Yamamoto, 4. No obvious defensive blunders, but he was not a factor with 0 points, 0 shooting attempts, 0 hits, 0 takeaways and about such a big impact on the game.
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71 Ryan McLeod, 4. He made a bad upset in the belt which led to 2 big chances in Calgary, although Koskinen had the answers that time. He looked great, but could not turn a great arrangement by Draisaitl.
75 Evan Bouchard, 4. His night started well with an outside shot that Brassard ousted his home, but the good news ended there. He had an almost comically bad sequence where it seemed that Gaudreau contained but lost track of the Flames star and then let another pass in the center pass right inside him before he lost his balance and slipped into the crunch of his own goal as the Flames completed the game. Overturned the final goal of the game.
91 Evander Kane, 4. Physically involved with 7 hits. His slow back was a key factor in the 4-3. He had a great chance to bring Edmonton back to level early in the third, but was unable to convert Puljujarvi’s nice pass. The 0-0-0, -4 Boxcars show that it was not his night.
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