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Second Line

#67 Benoit Pouliot, 3.Pouliot managed to get one shot on net, backhanding a loose puck that had somehow landed in the slot quickly on to Rinne. That was it for the offence, despite McDavid as a centre, an 87.5 percent offensive zone start and a whopping six minutes of power play time. The Oilers didn’t face many shots when he was out there, but given the context that’s faint praise. He did manage to pick up a tripping penalty along the way.

#97 Connor McDavid, 3.There were some bright spots for McDavid, such as on one shift when he found himself out against Shea Weber and he engaged physically without hesitation, drawing a minor penalty in the process. The two shots he was credited with came from the middle of nowhere; one from almost at the blue line and one from such a bad angle that no NHL goaltender should have allowed them. He did make some passes, but only one of those resulted in anything; he moved the puck quickly from behind the net to Yakupov who let it go in a hurry. He lost nine of 11 faceoffs and generated awfully little with more than five minutes on the power play and an 80 percent zone start and an Oilers game plan predicated on getting him away from Nashville’s top defence pair. One good pass isn’t much of a return on that investment.

#28 Lauri Korpikoski, 2.Sure, Korpikoski managed four shots on the night, but not one of them was a strong shot from the scoring chance area. Three of the four came from tough angles; the fourth was weak bit of assistance just a couple of inches away from Rinne’s pads to a shot that was already en route. Defensively he was nowhere near as good as advertised. He stumbled while trying to cut off a passing lane while shorthanded, surrendering a scoring chance against and another shot a moment later on the same possession. He was also totally fooled by a Seth Jones move at the point which allowed the Preds defenceman to put a dangerous shot into traffic. He squandered a great opportunity in the top-six tonight; it’s a rarity that a player with his checkered offensive history gets a 75 percent zone start with an offensive line and four minutes of power play time and manages almost bupkis. Shots were 6-6 when he was on the ice, and as we’ve noted already when Korpikoski shot the puck it didn’t mean much. Nashville scored on two of their six shots.