Edmonton Oilers Ride Stellar Goaltender To 2-1 Win Over Jets

The Edmonton Oilers traded for Cam Talbot back in the Summer, hoping that his strong work as a back-up in New York would turn out to be a strong indicator that he was ready to be a starting goaltender in the NHL. Glen Sather, still at the controls of the Rangers at the time, quipped that he “wanted to do his old team a favor”. I’d say he did just that, and tonight in Winnipeg was Exhibit “A”.

9 Things:

9. While Anton Lander has had a flat-out terrible year, there are skills he possesses that may keep him in the NHL. Tonight, it was that face-off win in his own zone, after Adam Cracknell had iced thee puck in the dying seconds. The Jets had been pressing. The Lander win may have been a game-saver.

8. Darnell Nurse sure faces some withering criticism, considering the load he has been asked to carry this season. Look no further than tonight, where the kid shouldered 24:44 TOI. A large majority of veteran D in the NHL can’t handle that kind of assignment…let alone a 21-year old.

7. By some people’s standards, you could say that Connor McDavid had a quiet night. But all he did was play 20:23, mostly against Winnipeg’s toughest competition, had 5 shots, and tied line-mate Jordan Eberle for the best Corsi mark (55%) on the night. Oh, and he went 8-14 on the face-off dot!

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6. The acquisition of Adam Pardy has been a very pleasant surprise. I was thinking that he would be Andy Sutton reincarnated. To some extend, Pardy is, as he is very physical and has an edge to his game. He does have some adventures with the puck, as we saw tonight, but when he stays within himself, he’s serviceable. And with just 5D going for the Oilers much of the night, he played just shy of 23:00 TOI.

5. After a bit of a sketchy start to the season, Andrej Sekera has turned into a terrific acquisition for Peter Chiarelli. He combines excellent foot speed with veteran brains on a regular basis, but no more so than tonight, when an injury on the back end forced him to play 26:30, playing (interchangeably) the LHS and RHS, with a high degree of success. Was rewarded with an assist on the Laurie Korpikoski goal, which turned out to be the eventual game winner.

4. There have been a couple nights this season when I could not make head nor tails of the ice-time given to Taylor Hall. And the Edmonton Oilers only took 2 minor penalties tonight, leaving me struggling to explain how he only saw 16:23 TOI against the Jets, in a game where I “saw Hall good”. His best play of the night was when he squeezed past Dustin Byfuglien & fed a deft pass into the slot which Patrick Maroon finished off. Nail Yakupov came up a few shifts shy as well, but but that was a little easier to see & explain.

3. Speaking of which, we got Patrick Maroon for Marty Gernat?? Yeah, I know, I know, a pick as well. But this guy has only skated into Edmonton and played Top 6 minutes without batting an eye or looking out of place for even a minute, while adding a much needed dose of “get-the-hell-out-of-my-way” to the Edmonton Oilers forward corps. I saw a few people mumbling about the acquisition at the time, and his “lack of foot speed”. Where ARE those critics, now, anyway?

2. Brandon Davidson played 4:00 of rock solid hockey, tonight, at then fell into the deep, dark hole that is the Edmonton Oilers Injured Reserve List. It happened on a relatively innocent (and perfectly legal) play with Byfuglien. It the playoffs were still a realistic dream, this would have been a devastating loss (Todd McLellan says it “doesn’t look good”. As it is, it’s just a bloody shame, as Davidson had become one of the Oilers best stories of the year. When. Will. It. End??

1. The Edmonton Oilers were not out-played by a wide margin (the shots were 40-31), and so you can’t reasonably say that Cam Talbot “stole” this win for his teammates. But he was absolutely the #1 reason why the team managed it’s 3rd win on the same road trip since 2010 (when Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle were rookies, for pity sake). Talbot really was great. But he has been for a while, now, posting a .967 save percentage over his past 6 starts. That’s “pretty ok”.

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Not only do the Edmonton Oilers have a #1 goaltender, they also have a different complexion. The heaviness added by Peter Chiarelli at the trading deadline has made a noticeable difference to this team, especially against a big, heavy team like the Winnipeg Jets. And that has also led to a better attitude among the players, which is also a real contributor.

San Jose is another one of “those” teams, and so Tuesday at home will be another big test for these “new” Oilers.

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