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Edmonton Oilers goalkeeper Mike Smith (41) makes a save with Vegas Golden Knights Keegan Wheelwriter (55) in front of him during the first period of the NHL on Saturday, April 16, 2022 in Edmonton. Photo by Greg Southam / Postmedia
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Golden Knights 0, Oilers 4
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In perhaps their biggest game of the season, the Edmonton Oilers came out with full teamwork on Saturday afternoon to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-0.
It was their second straight win with the same result after the Oilers defeated the Nashville Predators at Music City on Thursday. The 4 points provided by Edmonton in less than 48 hours provide much-needed room to breathe in what was a torturous run to the playoffs.
Suddenly the Oilers are in a great position, second in the Pacific with a 6-point lead over the Los Angeles Kings, 7 ahead of Vegas, all 3 teams with 6 games to play. (Awaiting the results of the Kings match on the West Coast late Saturday night.) It certainly helps that the Oilers took the season series of the two rivals, winning 3 of 4 games anyway.
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As the Oilers hold a tie-break advantage over the Kings, they need just six points in their last six games to gain a home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs against the survivor between LA, Vegas and late billing vancouver.
On Saturday, they used the home ice forever, recording their first exclusion in the “friendly boundaries” of 2019, with their last 6 white whites on the road. Mike Smith was exceptional in the victory, but he had a lot of help from his friends. Vegas overtook Edmonton 39-36, but our own preliminary analysis here at Cult of Hockey showed the Oilers holding a significant 16-5 advantage in Class A shots, with a few plays at both ends of the ice still to come. be reviewed (running numbers).
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Great performance of the team, worth positive reviews for all hands.
Player ratings
# 2 Duncan Keith, 6. He played a solid game in defense, burning for a few B-shots in the beginning, but very shortly after. Move the washer well. Blocked 7 shots to lead both teams.
# 5 Cody Sessie, 8. He led the D Corps in shifts (26), ice time (22:40), equivalent ice time (19:01) and ice time with short arms (3:39). No screaming mistakes, several good stops in defense and a huge goal when he hit the heavy screen of Puljujarvi and caught a favorable deviation from the opponent’s stick. This made it 2-0 in the opening minute of the third and the Oilers largely missed out on it. A few minor defensive issues, but nothing rude.
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# 6 Chris Russell, 8. He scored his first goal in more than 3 years when he jumped into the high slot to collect Kassian’s late feed. And that was a big goal, the eventual winner of the game, who opened the scoring at the end of the first and remained the only score in the game for two periods before his teammates ran away with him in the third. Game 12:08 as a nominal 7th defender, spending time on both sides of the list. He was hit at 2:10 in the (perfect) penalty shootout and was not the victim of a single Class A strike all day. 3 hits, 2 blocks, 2 hits.
# 10 Derek Ryan, 6. 10 solid minutes at steady power, 90 good seconds on PK. Assisted in the categorical goal, officially attributed to RNH. He showed up in good places in the offensive zone of the regular.
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# 13 Jesse Puljujarvi, 7. Another Oiler with solid two-way effort. No points, but he made a huge contribution to Ceci’s goal by hiding Logan Thompson in the door of Vegas while hiring Brydan McNab, who accidentally tilted the puck past his own goalkeeper. Class 4 A strikes from Oilers included, with no errors against either. He became a master at making short passes, which found McDavid in good places.
# 18 Zach Hyman, 6. A few good shots from very close range and his usual degree of battle in the trenches, including accepting a heavy check from Zach Whitecloud. Without deduction for the extraordinarily lousy cutting penalty he received in the third; fortunately his friends held his back and killed him.
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# 22 Tyson Barrie, 6. Skating well, shooting with a good defensive stick in time, staying out of trouble. 2 hits on the net, 1 of which was a one-time bomb that Thompson detonated.
# 25 Darnell Nurse, 7. A tower of power with 5 shot attempts, 3 hits and a number of battles won. Impressed by a sequence when he cleared a dangerous rebound from the low slot, then made a second strong game along the wall to win the puck straight and cause a breakthrough. He won an assist for Ceci’s goal and could have had another with a fine pass that Yamamoto deflected from the crossbar. Played “only” 20:54, but 3:18 on a penalty kick.
# 27 Brett Fist, 6. Quietly effective with decent hit proportions and zero significant problems behind his own blue line. It is credited with 6 high hits.
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# 29 Leon Drysight, 6. There were very few offensives, including the rare 0 shots on goal, but he played a strong defensive game. He made a key stop in the dying seconds of the middle frame after Bouchard and Keith passed their signals. The point with melody 18/27 = 67% dominates.
# 37 Warren Vogel, 9. Raise the stakes for his strong play in recent weeks, presenting perhaps his best game of the season so far. Strong in all three zones, gliding in direct lines to the puck and winning battles when he got there. He made two key plays in the first goal, first hitting a defender deep in Vegas to establish possession, then jumping on a loose puck high into the zone and starting a four-way pass that ended with Russell’s goal. There was no point in showing that effort, so he took matters into his own hands in the third, scoring 3-0 without help. It began with a good read and catch high in the defensive zone, followed by a 150-foot sprint that left defenders behind and ended with a high-speed blanket and deposit. 4 hits in the net, team maximum 7 attempts to hit, 2 hits, 1 withdrawal.
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# 41 Mike Smith, 9. He continued his super hot game with his second consecutive suspension, becoming only the 7th goalkeeper in NHL history to do so at 40+. He was busy all day with 39 rescues, including at least 12 in each period. I encountered more B-grade shots than A, but managed to prevent quite difficult shots from high-caliber snipers on the road, including 6 from Max Pacioretti, 5 from Jack Eichel and Alex Pierangelo, 4 from Jonathan Marceso. He did a great job fighting through the screens. He also took care of his household around the crease, cutting dangerous passes twice and making an excellent check on the edge of the blue paint once. Stable handling of the puck, except for one bounce, which almost led to a crash, but no. 39 hits, 39 saves, 1,000 percent of saves and moves with a staggering 5-0-0, 0.80, .976 in the last two weeks.
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# 44 Zack Kassian, 6. He had a generally strong game, starting as an “extra striker”, winning 11 minutes with different teammates. We notice mostly in a good way, landing 5 strokes. He seemed to freeze when McLeod put him in a great position on the side of the net, but recovered well with a pass from Plan B to Russell in the high slot, winning the main assist in the first goal of the match. He received 1 full score for the unnecessary penalty he executed in the neutral zone with 6 minutes left in the third, a high-quality foul by Keegan Kolesar, where he twice intercepted the depth of Vegas ahead before finally entering his third round. The good news was not only that his colleagues killed him, but also scored 4-0 at the end.
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# 56 Kailer Yamamoto, 6. There was nothing offensive (0 shots, sharing bad shots), but it was still a thorn in the side of the Golden Knights all the time. He made a great change in Edmonton’s first penalty by stealing the puck in the Oilers blue line twice and killing the weather with a good tide and, later, a safe clean-up and change. I got a good shot from the crossbar at the beginning of the second. Drawn around the puck all afternoon, he licked and kept ticking. He took some friendly fire when Bouchard shot him with a heavy shot, which (twice) sent him limping down the tunnel, but he returned for the third. 4 hits, 2 receivables.
# 71 Ryan McLeod, 6. The only Euler under 10:00 ice time (8:50), he found a way to make an impact. He made a good pass to Kassian and won a secondary assist to the winner of the game. Strong pressure and one-handed strike at the penalty, to which he contributed 2:01. Not the best control of washers with 4 gifts. Some curious solutions with the puck in good looking shooting positions.
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