Participant grades: Edmonton Oilers open season with a powerful thud in Van Metropolis

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Oilers 1, Canucks 8

In every week rife with predictions that Edmonton Oilers will win the Stanley Cup this 12 months, the squad took to the ice for the primary actual recreation of the season and proceeded to put a really massive, very rotten egg that stunk up Rogers Area in Vancouver.

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How finest to explain it? The Oilers had been outplayed, outworked, outcoached, outgoaltended, outdefended, outforwarded, outpenaltykilled, outpowerplayed and positively outsystemed. The 8-1 shellacking they absorbed matched the worst end result of the McDavid Period, having been thumped by that very same rating at Lengthy Island 8 seasons in the past in #97’s rookie season. They misplaced by the same rating within the Taylor Corridor/Dallas Eakins water bottle recreation in 2014. The final defeat by an even bigger margin was a 10-2 shellacking to Buffalo Sabres in 2009, when the squad was submerged within the depths of the Decade of Darkness.

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These days are speculated to be within the distant rear view by now, proper? So it’s an abrupt wake-up name to the membership and its followers to be run out of a constructing by a geographic rival that has missed the playoffs in 8 of the final 9 seasons. Led by Brock Boeser’s 4 targets and a pair of uncontested goalie screens, Van Metropolis had themselves an evening.

Give the Canucks full credit score, they performed a whale of a recreation, had been means more durable on the puck and obtained a few bounces alongside the best way. Their opponents then again had been nowhere close to prepared for prime time.

Grade A pictures tabluated by the Cult of Hockey counsel a recreation a lot nearer than it really was. Participant grades shall be brutal however temporary.

Participant grades

#2 Evan Bouchard, 3. In line with the stat sheet he led the crew with 5 pictures, 9 shot makes an attempt, and 24:41 TOI, incomes a secondary help on the lone objective. However he had a dreadful time of it on the defensive aspect of the puck, posting a -3 and incomes all of that with a person mistake on every, dropping battles on 2 and coughing up the puck on a 3rd. He additionally took a holding penalty that led to a powerplay objective in opposition to.

#5 Cody Ceci, 4. A few respectable moments offensively, notably a tough shot off a Draisaitl feed that rang iron. However had a troublesome time behind his personal blueline. Overwhelmed on the 3-0 objective that opened the floodgates early within the second, and later for two extra on the penalty kill.

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#10 Derek Ryan, 3. Very quiet recreation. 0 shot makes an attempt, 2/6=33% on the dot. Like Ceci, on for 1 GA at evens and a pair of extra on the PK.

#13 Mattias Janmark, 3. Very quiet recreation. 0 shot makes an attempt, 2/5=40% on the dot. Like Ceci and Ryan, on for 1 GA at evens and a pair of extra on the PK.

#18 Zach Hyman, 4. Across the entrance of the online as traditional, however struggled to corral the puck. -2 in 19 minutes.

#25 Darnell Nurse, 3. Edmonton’s new prime pairing had its struggles on an evening the Oil clearly missed the calming presence of Mattias Ekholm. Made a greater door than window on 2 totally different Canucks targets, and was burned on a nasty pinch on a 3rd. Did have some good defensive moments, however nowhere close to sufficient of them.

#27 Brett Kulak, 3. Yet one more Oiler who was burned for 3 targets in opposition to (2 EV, 1 PK), and was a giant a part of the issue on 2 of them. Couldn’t defend both Elias Pettersson’s (excellent!) lob move nor Connor Garland chopping to the online entrance to make the deposit on the 1-0, and was unable to suppress J.T. Miller’s move on the 3-0.

#28 Connor Brown, 4. A forgettable Oilers debut with 2 pictures, 2 hits however -2.

#29 Leon Draisaitl, 5. Scored the Oilers lone objective on his patented “executioner’s shot” on the powerplay. Was not on the ice for a single objective in opposition to, one thing of a minor miracle on this night time. Took a few pointless penalties in rubbish time, the primary of which led to the 7-1 objective. 12/17=71% on the faceoff dot.

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#36 Jack Campbell, 3. Earned the beginning with a wonderful preseason that noticed him crushed simply 3 instances in 3 video games, however allowed 4 in below half a recreation on this one. Didn’t get a number of assist from his teammates to say the least, however didn’t deal notably effectively with a few emergencies in shut. 16 pictures, 12 saves, .750 save share.

#37 Warren Foegele, 5. Strong 2-way effort. His line with McLeod and Holloway dominated possession however struggled to complete (6-2 pictures, 0-1 targets). His depraved blast off a scrambled faceoff was amongst Edmonton’s finest efforts at even power.

#55 Dylan Holloway, 6. The crew’s youngest participant was in some ways its finest, not less than for 50 minutes. Hustled onerous, main the forwards with 4 pictures, including a few hits and a pair of blocked pictures. The final of these, a degree blast from large Tyler Myers, appeared to catch him on the palm of his hand, ending Holloway’s night time with 10 minutes to play. A troublesome break at any time however particularly with a 7-1 deficit.

#71 Ryan McLeod, 4. Simply so-so in his first recreation of the season after lacking the entire preseason. Living proof, the final objective wherein he hustled onerous on the backcheck solely to lose the following battle.

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#73 Vincent Desharnais, 4. Largely regular, however solid an enormous display screen on Skinner on the 6-1.

#74 Stuart Skinner, 3. Got here on in aid however was unable to stem the tide. His finest moments got here on a second-period penalty kill when he made 3 robust saves however then was crushed on a fourth shot, nonetheless simply 51 seconds into the penalty. Not a lot assist there. However didn’t a lot assist himself in combating via screens. Equivalent stats to Campbell: 16 pictures, 12 saves, .750 save share.

#86 Philip Broberg, 3. Amongst these burned on 2 targets in opposition to, with a -2 on the night time to show it.

#91 Evander Kane, 3. Appeared a step behind all night time. Oilers had been outshot +4/-12 and outscored +0/-4 throughout his 16 minutes at evens. Did muster 5 hits to guide the crew, although nothing memorable.

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 4. One in all simply 4 Oilers (additionally Draisaitl, Holloway, Desharnais) to submit a fair plus/minus, Nuge struggled on the PK the place he was among the many culprits on 2 targets in opposition to. Led the forwards with 21:17.

#97 Connor McDavid, 4. Did some good work on the powerplay with a few harmful pictures and a high-quality move to Draisaitl for the objective, however his line struggled at even power. Was late in offering help to Bouchard on the 2-0, and was unable to chop out the resultant move that led on to the objective. Cleanly misplaced the faceoff on the 8-1. Did land the heaviest Edmonton hit of the night time when he creamed Filip Hronek within the early going.

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