Mrazek, Red Wings blank sputtering Oilers
EDMONTON, Alberta -- Petr Mrazek made 36 saves as the Detroit Red Wings opened a three-game road trip through Western Canada with a dominant 4-0 win over the struggling Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
The Oilers (4-8-1), who have scored just 30 goals this season, tied for the worst offensive mark in the NHL by being held to two goals or fewer in nine of their 13 games.
Frans Nielsen celebrated his 700th NHL game with an audacious tip-in goal on a point shot from Nick Jensen to open the scoring 3:23 into the first period. Nielsen was out by the faceoff dot and tipped a puck that was wide of the net and sent it flying over the shoulder of goaltender Cam Talbot.
The Red Wings (7-7-1) doubled their lead at 9:10 of the first period.
The Oilers came into the game with a 68.3 percent penalty killing rate. Gustav Nyquist poked a puck past Talbot off a goal-mouth scramble and, while it wasn't officially a power-play goal, it came just as Edmonton's Patrick Maroon was coming out of the box and the Oilers were essentially short-handed in their own zone.
Nyquist didn't make it to the end of the first period, though. He hobbled to the dressing room, barely able to put any weight on his right leg, after his knee collided with the Oilers' defenseman Eric Gryba's hip.
The Red Wings made it 3-0 at 8:47 of the second period as Martin Frk slotted home a pass from Anthony Mantha after Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse failed to clear a puck across his own blue line.
Jussi Jokinen had a chance to score his first goal as an Oiler, but missed an open-net chance with six minutes left in the second.
The Red Wings iced the game at 6:30 of the third, as the power play took advantage of the Oilers' league-worst penalty kill. Mantha was in the slot to deposit a rebound in an empty net after Talbot made the initial save on a Frk shot.
The Oilers top line of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Maroon was held to a total of just three shots.
NOTES: The Oilers are now 1-6-1 against Eastern Conference teams. ... This was only the Oilers' 28th afternoon home game since the team entered the NHL in 1979. ... Oilers LW Anton Slepyshev left late in Friday's win over New Jersey and wasn't available for Sunday's game. ... The Oilers also scratched LW Jujhar Khaira and D Yohann Auvitu. ... The Red Wings scratched LW David Booth, RW Luke Witkowski and D Danny DeKeyser... Oilers LW Patrick Maroon had his seven-game point streak snapped.