Kelsey Hammond
“Them oil wells is dry now”
Jack Johnson: B – He was paired with Josh Manson tonight. He had a couple of hits and was one of two players without a shot on net.
Bowen Byram: A – His minutes have been increasing lately and he’s earned it. Only Cale Makar and Devon Toews saw more minutes than him on defense. He played over 20 minutes tonight with a shot and a couple of blocked shots.
Erik Johnson: B- – I wasn’t a huge fan of the call on him but the Avs penalty kill looks on point. He had a few really good defensive plays on the rush. He’s headed to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in his career.
Devon Toews: B+ – What a weird game for him. There were a couple of mistakes but then he got a goal and buttoned up. He had some highs and lows this game. He had five shots on net and almost 30 minutes played.
Cale Makar: A+ – 5-point night for the star-studded defensemen. He kills penalties, plays on the power play and scores goals. Can’t beat it. This was his second game in the series with over three points in a game. He’s a stud. After the game on TNT, Wayne Gretzky said “No. 8 was the best player on the ice in every game.”
Andrew Cogliano: B- – The fourth line simply out hustled the Oilers tonight. They won the puck battles and were more physical. His strong suit continues to be the penalty kill.
Valeri Nichushkin: B- – When he has the puck along the boards the Oilers had a hard time knocking him off. Back-to-back nights with a point. He played close to 20 minutes, had two shots and three hits.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel: B- – He drove hard to the net tonight. His line really out muscled the Oilers in their own zone. He had a couple of big hits.
Alex Newhook: C – He was preparing to get hit from Kassian when he launched the puck over the glass and received a delay of game penalty. He was struggling tonight chasing the puck and mishandling it.
Logan O’Connor: B – He skates hard into the offensive zone, checks hard and gains control of the puck but an errant pass to Toews proved costly. The penalty kill went 4-for-5 tonight.
Nathan MacKinnon: B+ – I had to rewrite his grade a few times tonight. He started off slow and then a bad pass led to an Oilers goal. But apologized for the bad play with a sniper over Smith. He led the team with seven shots on net.
J.T. Compher: B – He did a great job on the penalty kill blocking shots and getting in front of the Oilers. He had a three blocked shots and some smooth stick handling tonight.
Josh Manson: B – He hit the post early on but had a nice overall game. He played a little over 14 minutes and three blocked shots. As a team, the have had 21 blocked shots total, compared to the Oilers who had 10
Darren Helm: B – McDavid’s power play was a thing of beauty. Hard to stop that guy. Helm plays aggressively and sticks with it. He had an assist on the game-winning goal.
Artturi Lehkonen: A+ – His hard work continues to payoff. He’s hungry for the puck and fights for it every night. Make that 11 points in the Stanley Cup playoffs, including three tonight. Gets the OT game-winner. That’s the second year in a row he’s put his team in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Gabe Landeskog : A – Yikes. He went into the boards awkwardly and looked like he hurt something. He was on the ice for a minute but finished the game. It’s playoff hockey but it feels like a lot of the guys are dealing with something. Finished the night off with three points and Western Conference Champs.
Andre Burakovsky: B- – I thought he played well offensively with a few clean passes and kept his head up looking for the open man. He’s got a big role to fill while playing on that second line.
Mikko Rantanen: A – He’s the Avs’ new second-line center while Kadri is recovering from thumb surgery. He scored the goal that put the Avs up 5-4, and he played very hard all night.
Pavel Francouz: D – This was not his night. Hard to blame all the goals on him but he didn’t have that game-changing save either. We’ll see what happens now that the team will get some rest before the Finals start on the 15h or the 18th.