Player grades: McDavid and Draisailt go wild, Edmonton Oilers beat Carolina Hurricanes 6-5

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were in on every single Edmonton goal, as the Oilers stormed from behind to beat Stanley Cup champion Carolina 6-5 in a shootout.

The Grade A shots were 15 to 14 for Edmonton, with the subset of most dangerous five-alarm shots eight to seven for Edmonton.

Connor McDavid, 10. Two goals, three assists. Quiet early, then kicked it into high gear, the highest of all gears in fact, McWarp power. Threw a nasty hit on Sean Walker late in the first. Took a nasty crosscheck or two from K’Andre Miller but this being the NHL and McD being the NHL’s top attraction, no penalty was called. Spun around a defender and knifed a pass across the slot for RNH to make it 2-2. He ripped in a harpoon to make it 4-3 Carolina early in the third. Beautiful pass on the PP to RNH who set up Dra for the 4-4 PP goal. Busted in the final moments of the game to put the puck into the slot and have it deflected in off a Carolina skate.

Leon Draisaitl, 10. Two goals, three assists. Almost scored twice on his first shift, then did so on a first period power play, directing in Bouchard’s hard and low shot-pass, sifting it top shelf where Momma keeps the cookies, as the legendary Edmonton skills coach Jim Fleming likes to say. Solid blocking play on Edmonton’s 2-2 goal. Excellent play to take Walman’s pass, then set up McD on the Edmonton’s third goal. Went full Esposito, taking RNH’s pass and slotting in Edmonton’s fourth goal.

Vasily Podkolzin, 6. Hard-working yet again. Almost scored on the first shift, backhanding a five-alarmer on net off Draisaitl’s rebounded shot. He busted in on Brandon Bussi off a slick McD pass and went for the deke but got poke-checked, drawing a penalty.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 8. Good game in his return from injury. Got stronger as the game went along. He took a PP pass from McD and snapped his own slotter top shelf where Gramma also keeps the cookies. Great deke then great pass to set up Drai’s 4-4 goal. He was money in OT, scoring the winner.

Zach Hyman, 7. Quiet game until he set a key screen on Edmonton’s fourth goal. Went to work after that, working like a mad man in the o-zone, creating a great tip shot for himself. He won a battle or two and broke in for a hard shot late in OT.

Kasperi Kapanen, 4. High event. Some positional play problems in the first. He chased the play behind Carolina’s net, leading to a 3-on-2 Canes rush in the first and shot off the Edmonton post. Followed it up with an ill-advised slash to make up for him blowing Edmonton’s zone. He failed to pick up Stankhoven in the slot on the 4-2 goal. On the plus side, he jammed a slotter on net off a Hyman feed in the third.

Alex Formenton, 4. He broke his stick on the faceoff, kicking off the sequence of pain on the Carolina 1-1 goal against.

Owen Michaels, 3. Little on the attack once again and failed to cover the point on the 5-4 goal against.

Mathieu Joseph, 3. Hustled hard and ripped a hard outside slotter on net in the third. But he had all kinds of time to clear the puck and failed to do so, kicking off the sequence of pain on Carolina’s 5-4 goal.

Colton Dach, 4. Quiet game, as well. Four hits to lead the team with Podz. Zero for four on the dot.

Trent Frederic, 5. He got a good shot off in tight in the second. Quiet game otherwise.

Isaac Howard, 5. O-zone giveaway in the first. Good PP rush in the second that set up a dangerous chance.

Mattias Ekholm, 4. Rough game in many ways. He deflected a dangerous shot on Edmonton’s net in the first seconds of the game. On his first shift of the second he failed to get body position and lost a foot race to the puck with Aho, who scored on the breakaway. He took a hard hit and his head crashed to the ice, knocking him out of the game early in the third.

Evan Bouchard, 6. High event, with plenty of good and bad. Great hard pass to Draisaitl on Edmonton’s 1-0 goal. He got deked out of his hockey pants by Seth Jarvis on a gorgeous move. Swell keep-in to set up Drai slotter five minutes into the third. His pass up the middle was picked off late in the third leading to a wicked Stankhoven slotter. He made a great defensive slot stop in OT.

Connor Murphy, 4. He muffed two straight PK clearances in the first, but then a good keep-in in the o-zone. Screened the goalie on the 5-4.

Ryan Shea, 7. Munched minutes and played them well. Solid PK clearance in the first and a few good o-zone moves as well.

Ty Emberson, 5. He made a not great pass then failed to cut out the pass into the slot  on the 4-2 goal.

Jake Walman, 6. He muffed a pass behind his own net, kicking off the sequence of pain on the 4-2 goal. Draisaitl knocked down Walman’s stretch pass, then set up McD on Edmonton’s 4-3 goal rush.

Devon Levi, 7. Weird game for him. Five goals against on just 13 Grade A shots. But came through on a few big late saves. His best stop of the first was off Ekholm’s deflection. Stopped a harpoon from Gostisbehere on the PK, but had little chance on the rebound on Carolina’s 1-1 goal. He was beat clean five-hole on Aho’s breakaway goal rush. Should Levi has come to play the puck on Aho’s goal? Likely. He, too, got deked by Jarvis on the 3-2 goal against. Not much chance on the 4-2 goal either. Humungous save late in the third off Stankhoven, his first real big one of the night, but at a big moment. A moment later he let in a heavy screened outside shot. Big stops on Stankhoven and Walker in OT. He was also brilliant in the shootout.