Streaking Canucks add to Oilers’ woes
VANCOUVER — Defenceman Derrick Pouilot snapped a 1-1 tie with his third goal of the season early in the final period as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 Thursday night for their third consecutive win.
Sam Gagner also scored for the Canucks (29-40-9), who have won four of their past five games.
Connor McDavid scored for the Oilers (34-38-6), who have lost two in a row. Edmonton is 3-2-1 in its past six games.
Pouliot gave Vancouver the lead just two minutes into the third period. Nikolay Goldobin fed the Canuck defenceman a pass from along the boards. Pouliot skated in on Oilers’ goalie Cam Talbot, make a deke then scored his first goal in 42 games.
Leon Draisaitl had a chance to tie the game on an Oiler power play late in the third, but his shot hit the post. A Ryan Strome slapshot also hit the post after a Canuck giveaway with just over two minutes remaining.
McDavid’s goal was his 41st of the season, giving him an NHL leading 103 points, leaving him six ahead of Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov. McDavid trails Washington’s Alex Ovechkin by four goals in the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy.
Vancouver goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 35 shots. He’s 4-0-0 in his last four starts. Talbot made 28 saves for the Oilers.
Markstrom kept the Canucks in the game with some big stops, including getting a pad on a Milan Lucic shot in the first period.
McDavid showed some of his magic on the game’s opening goal at 11:33 of the first period. After defenceman Andrej Sekera flipped a puck down the ice McDavid showed his speed by skating around Gagner then muscled defenceman Michael Del Zotto off the puck. He scored on a shot that hit Markstrom’s blocker, went off the post, and into the net.
The Oilers’ captain has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in his last six games.
Gagner earned some redemption by tying the game at 15:14 of the second. Daniel Sedin took a shot from the faceoff circle that Talbot stopped. Gagner, alone at the side of the net, put in the rebound for his third goal in four games.
An engaged crowd cheered on two teams not in the playoff hunt. In the third period there were loud chant of “let’s go Oilers.” That brought boos from the Canuck fans at Rogers Arena.
Adam Gaudette, the former Northeastern University Husky who recently signed with Vancouver after leading the NCAA with 30 goals and 60 points, played his first NHL game. On his opening shift he sent a sizzling shot just wide of the Oiler net.
Gaudette is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in NCAA hockey.
Emergency goalie shines
CHICAGO — Scott Foster thought it was going to be just another night. Then the 36-year-old accountant signed a contract, put on his goaltender gear and waited in Chicago’s locker-room. Then he got into the game. Then, it was his night. Foster was pressed into action when Chicago lost Anton Forsberg and Collin Delia to injuries, and the former college goalie stopped all seven shots he faced over the final 14 minutes of the Blackhawks’ 6-2 victory over the playoff-bound Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
“This is something that no one can ever take away from me,” Foster said. “It’s something that I can go home and tell my kids and they can tell their friends . ... Just a ton of fun.”
Foster is part of a crew of recreational goaltenders who staff Chicago’s home games in case of emergencies for either team. But it usually just means a nice dinner and a night in the press box watching the world’s best players compete at hockey’s highest level. Nothing at all like this. “What a moment,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said with a chuckle.
Forsberg was expected to start, but he got hurt during a “pregame ritual,” according to Quenneville. Delia, who was just recalled from the minors Wednesday, then stopped 25 of 27 shots in his NHL debut before he was helped off the ice with 14:01 left after he cramped up.
Enter Foster, a married father of two who lives in nearby Oak Park and plays in two rec leagues. After a short warmup, the game resumed and Foster got a big cheer from the crowd of 21,839 when he denied Tyler Myers for his first save about a minute after he came in.
“The initial shock happened when I had to dress. I think you just kind of black out after that,” Foster said.
Backed by chants of “Foster! Foster!” and more loud ovations, he made another stop on Myers and turned away Paul Stastny and Dustin Byfuglien in the final minutes. When it was over, the Blackhawks poured onto the ice and mobbed Foster in the net.