Player grade: Frederic's fight and McDavid's attacking lead Edmonton over Utah

Trent Frederic won a huge fight, Connor McDavid scored twice and got three assists, and the Edmonton Oilers crushed the Mammoth of Utah 6-2 on Saturday in Salt Lake.

The Grade A shots were 13 to 11 for Edmonton, with the subset of more dangerous five-alarm shots 10 to five for the Oilers.

Connor McDavid, 9. Two goals, three assists. Beauty goal rush where he powered in off the wing and scored the 1-0. Snapped the slot pass to Hyman for the 2-0 goal. Stole the puck in the n-zone and ripped in for another breakaway goal rush to make it 6-2.

Vasily Podkolzin, 6. Total Eclipse of the Sun screen off of McDavid’s wicked wrister that hit the crossbar late in the first.

Leon Draisaitl, 7.  One goal, one assist. He got caught deep up-ice as Utah charged in on a 2-on-1 in the second period. Relatively quiet game until he broke in late in the second on the 5-0 goal rush.

Colton Dach, 7. His size and energy were a big positive. A few hard hits early on. He got tripped up and drew a penalty in the first. He released his check Trochek, who got a wicked tip shot on net in final seconds of the first. He screened the goalie and got nasty creaser on net in the second. He got killed on the faceoff dot, one win, 11 losses.

Zach Hyman, 6. Fairly quiet in this one, but one big moment. Established position in front of the net, pumped in a creaser for the 2-0 goal.

Kasperi Kapanen, 7. Big game for Kapanen. Blasted Kailer Yamamoto with a hard hit late in the first. He made a swell pass to send in Joseph on his second period breakaway. He ripped a slotter off a scramble play to make it 4-0 Edmonton.

Alex Formenton, 6. Used his unreal speed to win a breakaway in the third, but was thwarted on the shot.

Owen Michaels, 5. Quiet game, but no big mistakes.

Mathieu Joseph, 8. Edmonton’s best forward outside the first line this year. He pounced on a bobbled puck at Edmonton’s blueline, charged in and ripped in a breakaway shot on his 3-0 goal rush.

Trent Frederic, 9. Solid defensive stop early on, then got in the roughest, wildest hockey fight I’ve seen in a few years, taking a few punches but landing even more against big Jack McBain, including a few Jack Reacher-esque uppercuts. The fight came in retribution for McBain’s nasty crosscheck on Draisaitl on Thursday in Edmonton. His overall game is stronger this year as he’s skating with more speed and pop.

Filip Hallander, 5. Charged in off a Howard pass and ripped a slotter in the first. Solid physical game.

Isaac Howard, 6. His best game of the year. Good pass to Hallander for a Grade A shot in the first.

Mattias Ekholm, 8. Edmonton’s top d-man in this one. He made five major contributions to Grade A shots. He blocked a shot and won a battle to kick off the 1-0 McDavid goal rush. Another great defensive stop popped the puck to McDavid and then to Draisaitl on Edmonton’s 5-0 goal rush.

Evan Bouchard, 6. Another strong game, but not perfect. He was caught up ice in the second as Utah broke down Ekholm’s wing for a scary 2-on-1 in the second. His outside shot in the second went off McDavid in the slot, then landed for Kapanen, who snapped it top shelf where Gramma keeps the cookies.

Connor Murphy, 6. Solid game. He threw a hard hit on Barrett Hayton, protecting Edmonton’s net. He kept a clean sheet at even strength, not one major mistake on a Grade A shot against.

Ryan Shea, 5. He allowed a dangerous shot tip off the rush early on. He got caught on an uggo screen of his own goalie on the 5-1 goal against. Strong sliding block on a late game PK.

Ty Emberson, 6. He blasted big Simashev with a thundering hit in the second. He also kept a clean sheet at even strength.

Jake Walman, 7. Now that is more like it. His best game of the year. He charged back and broke up a 2-on-1 early on. His heads up pass during a Utah line change kicked off Joseph’s second period breakaway.

Tristan Jarry, 8. Great game with a few key stops when the game was still in doubt. Great stop on a tough tip in early on. He fumbled the puck behind the net, but managed to get in front of the resulting five-alarm slotter. An even bigger stop on Trocheck five minutes into the second, a 2-on-1 shot off a cross-ice pass, hockey’s toughest stop to make. Hard luck on the 5-1 goal against, as he was screened by a Utah attacker and an Oilers defender. The second Utah goal was a weird one, a deflected shot that went off the top of the net and bounced in off of Jarry’s back.