The sweep of the NHL schedule from Sunday starts in Edmonton where the Oilers put together a complete game effort and stunned the New York Islanders, 3-1.
In the process, the Oilers snapped a seven-game skid.
Anton Lander, Leon Draisaitl and Brandon Davidson scored in the third period to send the Isles to defeat.
Cam Talbot made 36 saves for the win, his first since early February.
“It feels pretty good to get this win, especially against a team that embarrassed us the last time we played them,” Talbot said. “We had some redemption to take care of and we went out there and accomplished that tonight.
“We started to pick up our game on the California trip, but didn’t get the results we wanted (2-1 loss at Los Angeles Kings and 2-1 OT loss at Anaheim Ducks on Thursday and Friday, respectively). We’ve been taking steps in the right direction. Tonight was a pretty gutsy game for our group against a good team. It felt good to get the two points tonight.”
Casey Cizikas was the lone scorer for New York.
“I didn’t think we had a good first period, but I thought the second and third we did a better job of getting pucks in deep and working them down low and getting pucks to the net,” Cizikas said. “We just have to score on our opportunities when we have them. [Talbot] stood on his head, he came up with the saves when he needed to. We had good pressure in the third and we kept firing the pucks and he kept coming (up) with save after save.”
Jaroslav Halak made 23 in the loss.
“They’re a quick team and I thought we didn’t start the way we wanted to start,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. “If we’re not going to get secondary scoring, we’re going to struggle down the stretch and our power play, until we put [Ryan] Pulock on it, we didn’t establish any shots from the point at all. We had opportunities on the power play which would have been a difference-maker, we could have been up 2-0 and to me that’s the difference in the game.”
Another team to break out of a funk was the St Louis Blues who downed the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2.
Kyle Brodziak picked up the game-winner on a shorthanded goal in the second period.
The second period was big for the Blues who outshot the Canes, 20-8, in the middle frame.
“We got into their defense a little bit and we got a lot of energy,” said Blues coach Ken Hitchcock. “We hemmed them in and didn’t let them out. That second period was outstanding.”
Jake Allen made 32 saves in the win.
After Brodziak’s goal, Alex Pietrangelo and Robby Fabbri scored for St Louis to seal the win.
“He (Pietrangelo) makes a huge difference,” Hitchcock said. “What can you say? It just organizes our team better, puts players in better position play-wise and gets us better matchups. He really helps us a lot.”
In St Paul, Erik Haula scored to help the Minnesota Wild defeat the Florida Panthers, 3-1.
The goal snapped a 1-1 tie midway through the third period.
“We needed a full 60 [minute effort]. That’s what we’ve been talking about and I felt like we stuck with it,” Haula said. “It always wasn’t pretty, but that’s how it’s going to be from now on.
“But it feels good right now. We need wins right now and that’s the bottom line. It doesn’t matter who gets them or how it happens in the game, as long as we get those two points.”
Jason Pominville added insurance with an empty-net goal and Charlie Coyle also scored.
“It was all about the win at home,” Wild interim coach John Torchetti said. “If you haven’t won at home in a long time, it’s a feeling you have to be comfortable with out there. The fans deserved it.”
Al Montoya started for the Panthers but left after taking an elbow to the head.
The win ended a three-game skid for the Wild and it was their first win on home ice since late December.
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