The player praises the Edmonton Oilers on fire in their barn-burning win over the Vegas Golden Knights

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It was a barn-fire game in which Edmonton took a 5-0 lead on a winter day and won 6-3.

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Edmonton has now played eight of its last nine games, showing its Stanley Cup quality.

Both teams increased their tempo, as evidenced by their Class A shot totals: Edmonton with 17, the Vegas Golden Knights with 19, and the subset of the most dangerous 5-alarm shots were seven for the Oilers and eight for VGK.

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Connor McDavid, 5. Some defensive boos. Edmonton almost scored a goal in its own goal towards the end of the first period. Shot from a torpedo tube to advance to the first round and set up RNH’s goal. In the second half he scored a 5-alarmer at the net. His N-Zone turnover triggered the Sequence of Pain on Vegas’ second goal. He won only seven of 23 faceoffs. Contributions/Mistakes on Class A Shots (GAS): Uniform Strength +1/-5; Special teams 1/0

Zach Hyman, 8. Great action, great goal, great game. He charged hard and attacked RNH’s goal with a D-man. He intercepted a pass from RNH for Edmonton’s second pass. Excellent backcheck to Barbashev in the D slot a moment later. GAS: ES +2/-1; ST 1/0

Ryan Nugent Hopkins, 7. Slammed home McD’s pass for Edmonton’s first goal. Grabbed the puck and fired it into the net as Hyman scored his goal early in the second period. A few defensive errors, which was typical of the Oilers players in this game. GAS: ES +3/-3; ST 1/0

Leon Draisaitl, 8. Another great game, but somewhat marred by a miserable sequence. One goal, two assists. He worked the puck well with his unheralded linemates on Edmonton’s first 5-alarm by Podzolzin. He grabbed a loose puck and charged powerfully up the ice to start the puck’s virtuous cycle on Edmonton’s first goal. He delivered a great backhand shot to Bouchard for a great shot. He fired a hard wrist shot into the net while Connor Brown buried the rebound for Edmonton’s third goal. He went to the net to feed in Nurse’s beauty pass for Edmonton’s fourth goal. But he made a bad turnover in the O-zone, then made two more errors that caused the Sequence of Pain on VGK’s first goal. GAS: ES +7/-2; ST 1/0

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Kasperi Kapanen, 7. Some solid passages over two grades of As in the first part. His quick movement had set Drai’s harpoon in motion in the third round. GAS: ES +4/-0; ST 0/0

Vasily Podkolzin, 8. In the first game, he charged to rip a Grade A off the edge of home plate and moments later took a pass from Darnell Nurse hard into the net for a 5-alarm backhander. Great block in the sequence that led to Edmonton’s third goal, earning him a full bonus grade for bravery. GAS: ES +6/-1; ST 0/0

Adam Henrique, 7. Solid game. Had a dangerous early top shot at the net. He was moved out of position in a sequence that led to a VGK 5-alarm in the second. On Edmonton’s sixth goal, he had a great pick-up of the puck off the boards and a pass back to Nurse. Excellent to the point, 11 out of 17. GAS: ES +1/-3; ST 1/0

Jeff Skinner, 7. It was quiet for most of the game, but he grabbed a rebound and fired a sniper shot for Edmonton’s sixth goal, stopping VGK’s three-goal comeback push dead in its tracks. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 1/0

Mattias Janmark, 5. Frantic plays to prevent icing on the cake resulted in the first A grade of the game. He shot like a rocket and almost overturned Brown’s pass, which was shorthanded in the first. A few defensive mistakes, which is not normal for Janmark. GAS: ES +3/-3; ST 1/0

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Corey Perry, 6. Hit an outside shot through heavy traffic to score Edmonton’s fifth goal. Otherwise quiet. GAS: ES +1/-1; ST 0/0

Connor Brown, 7. He stormed onto the ice while shorthanded to set up Janmark’s dangerous shot, exactly the type of PK trend we like to see. He received a stick-on-stick backhander from Mark Stone to send it over the net. He went hard to the net to parry Drai’s rebound on Edmonton’s third goal. GAS: ES +2/-0; ST 1/0

Derek Ryan, 6. He pointed an umbrella at Perry’s goal. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST 0/0

Evan Bouchard, 6. Great event, more good than bad. Good to see him in the game after that sneaky Hartman hit. He got off to a shaky start, catching ice twice, which turned into odd rushes. Hit one off the post in the first round. Great sliding block to thwart a 3-on-2, then he made a cool backhand stretch to set up the odd-man rush for Edmonton’s third goal. He was slow to cover Eichel on a 5-alarm tipoff in the second period. A culprit in the first VGK goal. GAS: ES +5/-3; ST 1/0

Mattias Ekholm, 5. More fights than usual than this one. He and Bouchard were both caught behind the net on VGK’s first goal. Eichel hit him hard into the boards in the second round, but it will take more than that to bring the Viking down. Strangely, no penalty was awarded. So weird, right? Ek rebounded and drove the puck into the net, resulting in Skinner’s goal. GAS: ES +1/-5; ST 1/2

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Darnell Nurse 7. Two assists, another good game. Great pass for Podkolzin in the first half. Brilliant slot stick check against Dorofeyev in the second. Beauty moves outside and passes inside on her backhand to set up Edmonton’s fourth goal. GAS: ES +3/-5; ST 1/0

Brett Kulak, 7. He won the battle and initiated Edmonton’s fourth scoring sequence. Quiet game that is good for a D-man against a strong opponent. GAS: ES +2/-1; ST 0/0

Troy Stecher, 3. Run ragged against the menacing VGK forecheck. He was beaten by Kolesar in the first half and had to take a penalty. He charged up the ice, as he has done lately, to set up Drai for a Grade A backhander in the first period. GAS: ES +1/-7; ST 0/0

Ty Emberson, 6. Solid game, minor event. Good block against Eichel on an early VGK power play. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST 0/2

Stuart Skinner, 7. Some great moments at crucial times, but marred by a few telling mistakes. It was a lot of complicated, busy work to start with, but Skinner was up to it and then had two great stops after a sharp seam pass to Eichel in tight. This is a groundbreaking, telling moment as Skinner struggled with such stops. It got caught deep in the net and confused VGK’s second goal, an easy tip from Barbashev. Difficult play on the third Vegas goal when the puck was coughed up behind the net and then fell. But he closed out Vegas afterward because of a series of top-notch recordings.

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