Oilers Shut Out Kings 2-0

Cam Talbot turned aside everything en route to his seventh shutout of the year, while the Oilers got goals from Patrick Maroon and Milan Lucic en route to a 2-0 shutout victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

The Kings were walked by the Flames last night. After the first period, LA began to gain some steam, but they were unable to solve the Oiler netminder. Talbot finished the night with 35 saves and his seventh shutout. Everything is clicking.

Pat Maroon scored just one minute into the game after a batting a Leon Draisaitl shot out of the air. You won’t believe it, but it all was set up by Connor McDavid, who earned his 56th assist and 81st point of the year. The goal is Maroon’s 25th of the season, which is good enough to tie the team lead with McDavid. Leon picked up his 40th assist on the play.

Oilers kept the pressure going when Milan Lucic scored one on the power play with seven minutes left in the opening frame. Usual suspects McDavid (57th assist, 82nd point) and Draisaitl (41st assist, 65th point) were there to set it all up.

Two goals isn’t anything to shout about, but it worked last game against Vancouver, and it worked again tonight. The win puts twelve points between the Oilers (87 points) and the Kings (75 points). More importantly, it puts the Oilers back into third place, and it dips the Calgary Flames back into the first Wild-Card spot.

NOTES

• Cam Talbot is playing lights out right now. 35 saves tonight and 33 saves against Vancouver on Saturday night, the puck must be looking like a beach ball to #33. Not like how Dan Cloutier looks at a beach ball, either.
• Connor McDavid is a freak. Though he didn’t score on this play, two assists give him 82 points on the season.

• Patrick Maroon and Jarome Iginla had a tilt. It was a thing.
• Tonight was a better night for Jonathan Quick. After getting yanked midway through the first period in Sunday night’s 5-2 loss to the Flames, he turned in a 29 save performance. As evidence has shown over the last decade in Edmonton, when your team scores zero goals, you can stop 90 shots and it means dirt.
• No one will really know all the ins and outs of the Jarome Iginla-to-LA deal, but if this is Iginla’s last season in the big leagues, you’ve got to at least feel somewhat for the guy having less than a slim chance at a playoff run.
• Matt Hendricks made his way back into the lineup for Anton Slepyshev, as did Eric ‘The Sledgehammer’ Gryba for Matthew Benning. Hendricks had nine minutes of ice and one shot, and Gryba had a shot, five hits and 2 PIMs. I’d rather have Slepyshev and Benning in the lineup.
• It bears repeating: with tonight’s win the Oilers are again third in the Pacific, they’ve got one point more than the Flames, and there are twelve points between the Kings and the Oilers. Edmonton plays the Avalanche twice this week, and things could be locked up before too long if everything goes the way it should.
• IT’S REALLY HAPPENING: It’s really happening. Really.