Oilers, Talbot shut out Canucks
Goaltenders’ duel favours Edmonton in 2-0 victory over visiting Vancouver
EDMONTON — The Oilers didn’t need to wrack up seven goals to beat the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
Cam Talbot made 33 saves to record his sixth shutout of the year as the Oilers continued their hot play of late with a 2-0 victory over the Canucks, a win coming on the heels of scoring seven goals in each of their two previous victories over Dallas and Boston.
Connor McDavid and Mark Letestu scored for the Oilers (38-24-9), who have won three straight games.
“You never expect to keep putting up seven goals a game,” Talbot said. “We knew that wasn’t going to happen. These are the games that are playoff hockey coming down the stretch, 1-0 and 2-0 games. I thought we did a pretty good job of showing that we can win these tight games, too.”
Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl, who picked up a pair of assists to give him seven points in his last three games, agreed.
“I don’t think there’s going to be one game in the playoffs that’s going to be 7-1,” he said.
“These games, in years past, we found ways to lose, and this season we seem to find ways to win,” added Draisaitl.
The Canucks (28-34-9) have now lost six straight.
“We hit a lot of posts,” said Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin. “Their goalie played well, but I thought we deserved to score at least a couple.”
There was no scoring in the first period, with it tied 8-8 in shots.
Edmonton finally broke the scoreless deadlock with 3:18 remaining in the second period as McDavid cut in with speed and beat Vancouver goalie Richard Bachman high to the glove side for his 25th goal of the season, putting back in the NHL scoring lead with 80 points.
Talbot made a pair of big saves on Vancouver’s Markus Granlund in the second period, including one just before the buzzer sounded, to keep it 1-0 through 40 minutes.
Edmonton made it 2-0 with 4:38 left in the third period, as Draisaitl made a great crossice feed to Letestu, who one-timed a shot past Bachman for his career-best 14th goal.
The Oilers close out a season-high eight-game homestand on Monday against the Los Angeles Kings. The Canucks play the second game of a five-game trip on Tuesday in Chicago.
CHICAGO 2, TORONTO 1 (OT)
TORONTO — Ryan Hartman scored with 17 seconds left in overtime to lead the Chicago Blackhawks past the Toronto Maple Leafs.
John Hayden notched his first NHL goal, and Corey Crawford stopped 25 shots for Chicago.
Auston Matthews had a goal to snap a sevengame drought, while Frederik Andersen made 37 saves for the Maple Leafs, who hold the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 79 points.