It’s Game 3 Day in the West, as the Edmonton Oilers look to build on an already commanding series lead over the Anaheim Ducks, while the Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues will duke it out to determine who will gain the edge. Jakob Silfverberg cut the deficit in half with 4:16 left in the second, unleashing a blast of a shot that Talbot would have struggled to stop even if Patrick Eaves was not expertly blocking his line of sight. “The Wagner goal doesn’t go in every night (off Talbot’s stick), but maybe we deserved a break”, said Ducks centre Andrew Cogliano.
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The odds are certainly still in the Oilers favour, despite the less than stellar overall showing in Game 3. The common thread there is that the Oilers had a shot to take a 3-1 series lead against San Jose in that game; a more commanding 3-0 chokehold was at stake on Sunday. Two nights after Talbot carried the Oilers’ water in Game 2, the Ducks hung six on him to tie a franchise record for most goals scored in one playoff game.
Game 2 of Nashville-St. “Two shutouts the last series against San Jose?” He made a decision to grow one as a means of coping with the Oilers’ loss to San Jose in the first game of their first playoff series since 2006. Silfverberg put them up 2-0 five minutes later on only their second shot.
I’m just not sure what the Ducks can do differently on the road that they weren’t able to do in either game at home.
At the other end of the ice, Anaheim goalie John Gibson stopped 24 of 27 shots, including a series of fantastic stops late in the second period.
After a four-goal third period in the series opener, the Oilers entered the rematch with plenty of the same energy.
About 1,000 Edmonton fans made the 2,800-kilometer trip to Anaheim to take in the first two games.
“I felt good off the start”, Talbot said. I’m going to continue backing the Oilers in this series. That’s right, in a period in which they were outshot 12-3 and seemingly under siege for the final 10 minutes of the frame, it was those first 10 minutes that set the tone for the evening.
Everybody in hockey knows McDavid is in his first postseason run after winning the NHL scoring title, but Talbot had just two games of backup playoff experience in his entire career before this spring.
The Oilers now head home to Edmonton for the next two games with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“We were flat. Weren’t ready”, said winger Patrick Maroon.
HollywoodLifers, who will you be rooting for in this game?
“We just chalk it up to a bad game”, said Connor McDavid.
“Ours is a good team that never gives up”, Maroon said. But the paired examples alongside the relative results of the teams just goes to show what it takes to do some playoff damage in team sports: it takes more than one player.
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The seriousness of the present situation for the Oilers was illustrated by McLellan switching lines after falling behind 3-0 in the first period of Game 3. One of the things he’s done a very good job of all season is understanding that without his offense on a given night, we still have the ability to win. He responded by allowing just four goals over his next five starts, all wins, with a ridiculous.975 save percentage.
