Nurse comes to aid of reeling Oilers

GLENDALE, ARIZ. Desperate to stop the bleeding since the Christmas break, the Edmonton Oilers called on their in-house Nurse to slap a band-aid on their, “death by 2,000 cuts season” Friday.

But it was still hold-your-breath time against the NHL’s worst team.

The Oilers were down two to the Arizona Coyotes before the game was barely three minutes gone, as Brad Richardson and Josh Archibald got shots past Oilers starter Cam Talbot before he was replaced by backup Al Montoya.

Then Darnell Nurse ripped two long slappers past Antti Raanta’s glove and Patrick Maroon and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (empty net) scored in a 4-2 win.

“As we’ve said a few times, the belief system in here is obviously being put to the test with our record and where we are right now,” said Nurse, whose two goals gave him three in the last three games of this five-game road trip which ends in Las Vegas Saturday.

After scoring 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1 in their last six games, with the only goals coming from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl along with Nurse and fellow D-man Kris Russell (five losses and a 2-1 shootout win against Anaheim), they finally got Maroon and RNH in on the scoring. But Nurse was their biggest weapon, with help from his housemate McDavid, who was dancing all night and had two assists.

And Montoya came in to hold the fort, stopping 19 shots. After the morning skate, Oilers coach Todd McLellan had said; “Talbs is our guy” when asked if he would consider starting Montoya for the first time since they got him from Montreal in a trade for a draft pick. But Talbot was gone after 197 seconds, giving up two goals in three shots.

Richardson tapped in a rebound after Jeff Chychrun’s initial 50-footer hit the post on the Coyotes’ first shot at 2:03, then Archibald sliced by Oscar Klefbom to beat Talbot a minute later to send the No. 1 guy to the bench. It was the fifth time Talbot has been hooked this season (against Vancouver, Ottawa, St. Louis, Dallas and here).

Nurse’s goals were carbon-copies, lots of time and room for slappers.

Maroon got free from Oliver Ekman-Larsson for his first goal since Dec. 18 against San Jose.