Oilers top Canadiens for fourth straight victory
EDMONTON, Alberta -- Look out, NHL. The Edmonton Oilers are finally playing like the pundits had predicted they would at the start of the season.
The Oilers will head into Christmas break on a four-game winning streak after tidy 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday at Rogers Place. The Canadiens' two-game win streak was snapped.
Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist, Leon Draisaitl had three assists and winning goalie Cam Talbot made 29 saves. Jujhar Khaira also had a goal and an assist.
At the start of the season, the Oilers' were Vegas co-favorites for the Stanley Cup, but sputtered for 2 1/2 months. But on Saturday, the Oilers (17-17-2) took advantage of the Canadiens (16-16-4), who played the night before in Calgary and started back-up Antti Niemi in goal. Niemi was solid, though, making 31 saves.
The Canadiens showed some life just a minute in when Brendan Gallagher cut in from the boards and steamed in on Oilers goalie Cam Talbot. But Talbot kept his pads steady to deny Gallagher.
From there on in, it was the Oilers' show.
At 13:49, Ryan Strome opened the scoring, firing past a sprawling Niemi after Khaira made a great pass across the offensive zone.
Just two minutes after that, the Oilers doubled their lead, thanks to McDavid. The reigning league MVP skated out from behind the Canadiens net, coasted up the boards, cut to the middle of the ice near the blue line and unleashed a wrist shot that stunned a screened Niemi.
Milan Lucic made it 3-0 on the powerplay at 4:21 of the second. He was on the doorstep of the crease to bang home Draisaitl's pass.
The visitors scored on the power play at 12:55 as Joe Morrow's point shot was tipped by Paul Byron and Andrew Shaw before trickling in.
Niemi kept his team alive in the third period by denying Patrick Maroon not once, but twice, on the same breakaway.
Jujhar Khaira iced the game with an empty-net goal at 18:02.
NOTES: With Antti Niemi getting the call in net for the Canadiens, G Carey Price's run of 12 straight starts was broken. ... Canadiens D Karl Alzner extended his iron-man streak to 576 games, tying Billy Harris for the 13th-longest consecutive-game run in league history. ... The Canadiens scratched D Jakub Jerabek, LW Jacob De La Rose and LW Charles Hudon. ... The Oilers scratched LW Anton Slepyshev, D Eric Gryba and D Yohann Auvitu. ... Canadiens D Brett Lernout made his first appearance since being called up from the team's AHL affiliate in Laval, Quebec, on Thursday.