Talbot’s return lifts Edmonton
Lightning withstands late rally by Avs; Rangers win in overtime
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Edmonton Oilers hope Cam Talbot’s return can help stop their roller-coaster December.
Talbot made 29 saves after missing seven games with an undisclosed injury and Milan Lucic had a goal and assist as the Oilers held off the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Saturday.
Talbot said he felt great after he jokingly referred to his self-proclaimed “2½-week vacation.”
He was eased in as the Oilers had 10 of the first 11 shots on goal.
“Sometimes coming off an extended period like that, sometimes you want early work. But they kept the first few to the outside and let me get comfortable, and just battled out from there and just tried to control the game,” Talbot said.
“Any time you get one of your core players or key players back, regardless of position but maybe even more important in (goal) it’s calming influence,” coach Todd McLellan said. “I felt our team didn’t panic tonight.”
LIGHTNING 6, AVALANCHE 5: In Denver, Anton Stralman scored twice to help Tampa Bay overcome a hat trick by Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog as the Lightning beat the Avalanche for its seventh straight win.
Mikhal Sergachev, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Yanni Gourde also scored for the Lightning, which has two wins against the Avalanche during the streak.
Trailing 5-2, the Avalanche pulled within two on Landeskog’s third goal of the night, a power-play score at 6:27 of the third.
Colorado made it 5-4 when Nathan MacKinnon scored on a wrist shot at 9:22 but Tampa Bay answered with a goal by Sergachev at 11:32, putting his stick on the puck amid heavy traffic in front of the goal and knocking it between Land eskog’ s legs and into the net.
Nikita Zadorov pulled the Avalanche within one again with 5:46 remaining but that ended the scoring.
RANGERS 3, BRUINS 2 (OT): In Boston, Mats Zuccarello scored a power-play goal 1:56 into overtime to lift New York to a victory over the Bruins.
Michael Grabner and J.T. Miller also scored for the Rangers, who won for the ninth time in 13 games (9-3-1) overall and beat the Bruins for the seventh straight time. Henrik Lundqvist, playing back-toback days, made 33 saves.
BLUES 2, JETS 0: In St. Louis, Carter Hutton made a career-high 48 saves to earn his ninth career shutout as St. Louis beat Winnipeg.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Vince Dunn scored for St. Louis, which snapped a two-game skid.
Hutton improved to 5-2-0 a day after being activated from injured reserve after sustaining a lower body injury. He was tested early and often as Winnipeg peppered him with 15 shots in the first period and 21 more in the second.
SENATORS 3, CANADIENS 0: In Ottawa, Craig Anderson stopped 28 shots for his 40th career shutout, leading Ottawa to a victory over Montreal in the NHL 100 Classic outdoor game.
ISLANDERS 4, KINGS 3 (OT): In New York, the Islanders have been winning at home with regularity this season. Against suddenly stumbling Los Angeles, New York just needed some extra time.
Jordan Eberle scored 1:54 into OT to lift the Islanders to a victory over the Kings, handing LA its third straight loss after an eight-game winning streak.
FLYERS 2, STARS 1 (OT): In Philadelphia, the Flyers needed some extra time but have kept their winning streak alive. Shayne Gostisbehere’s power-play goal with 1:10 left in overtime gave Philadelphia a win over Dallas. It was his second goal of the game.
HURRICANES 2, BLUE JACKETS 1: In Raleigh, N.C., after six consecutive games on the road, Noah Hanifin and Scott Darling made sure Carolina had a happy homecoming.
Hanifin scored the tie-breaking goal in the second period and Darling stopped 35 shots as the Hurricanes beat Columbus.
PENGUINS 4, COYOTES 2 : In Glendale, Ariz., the Penguins have struggled in close games recently and giving up a two-goal lead to the team with the league’s worst record was not a good sign.
One shot from Olli Maata changed their fortunes. Maatta scored from just inside the blue line with 14 seconds left as Pittsburgh ended a three-game losing streak with a victory over Arizona.
CAPITALS 3, DUCKS 2 (OT): In Washington, Alex Ovechkin scored on a slap shot at 1:58 of overtime as Washington rallied to beat Anaheim.