Craig Anderson turned aside all 37 Oiler shots en route to a 2-0 shutout for the Senators on Sunday night. The Oilers looked unable to gain any momentum for large parts of the first half of this one, and were unable to solve Anderson along the way. Ottawa's Mike Hoffman scored midway through the second period, and that's all that Ottawa would need. An empty net goal was tallied by Bobby Ryan in the third period, and Edmonton's five game winning streak comes to a close.
Edmonton is in Toronto today to take on the Leafs. Can the Oilers put Sunday's game in the rearview mirror and get back to the win column?
Let's go to the tape.
The Oilers are saying
"We're a confident team...We're pissed off that we let this one get away, but we're going to have to have some good teams to face here in this road trip coming up so we've been good on the road as of late to start the season here so we can only continue to play that way."
That's Oilers forward Jordan Eberle after Edmonton's 2-0 loss to Ottawa on Sunday.
Zero goals against a team that allows a fair bit may be some concern. Oilers were only able to get one goal before the empty netter against Vancouver. Fire up the McDavid line.
The opponents are saying
"We created a lot of opportunities, but their goalie stood on his head and made a lot of good saves. But I think we have to continue to do what we're doing and clean up some things defensively. Offensively we're getting our chances, but (we've) just got to capitalize on them now." Source
That's Maple Leafs star rookie Auston Matthews on his team's performance in a 5-1 loss to the Islanders on Sunday.
There have been some problems in Toronto, but it doesn't look all bad. Auston Matthews is quickly showing the NHL that's he's the real deal. He's tied for the league lead in goals (6) and he's got ten points in nine games. Splashing the pot with a four goal debut is a good way to get people to know your name. Now if the goaltending gets a little better, watch out.
Have some of this
STILL RIDING THE WAVE: Cam Talbot is still playing lights out. Can we get this in April? Can the team still play in April? Talbot's 20 of 21 performance on Sunday night certainly gave the Oilers plenty of opportunity to run away with a win. Scoring zero goals is a good way for that not to happen.
TURN ON THE JUICE: Have to admit I thought the power play would be in a better spot than it is right now. Oilers rank 20th overall on the power play at 14.8%, including a doughnut in four attempts on Sunday. How do you fix the power play?
The time to look at the RWs is now, before it gets wacky. Jordan Eberle, Zack Kassian, Jesse Puljujärvi and Tyler Pitlick. Are the Oilers going to keep Puljujärvi on the big club? Puljujärvi has certainly has shown some promise, as well as a few growing pains. The other option is Anton Slepyshev right now. What do you do here?
Matthew Benning will make his NHL debut with Darnell Nurse. I'm not saying it'll be crazy, but set your fire alarms in case.
Cam Talbot (7-2-0, .936 SV% / 2.04 GAA, 2 SO) will likely start for the Oilers today. Frederik Andersen (2-2-3, .876 SV% / 3.67 GAA) will likely go for the Leafs.
Iiro Pakarinen (knee), Drake Caggiula (hip), Mark Fayne (undisclosed) Brandon Davidson (upper body) and Matt Hendricks (lower body) will not dress for the Oilers tonight. The Leafs will be without Stephane Robidas (knee), Joffrey Lupul (abdomen), Josh Leivo (lower body) and Matt Hunwick (lower body)
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