ANAHEIM, Calif. – This is something that Edmonton Oilers coach Todd McLellan would probably rather not have known, but he took a huge gamble on Cam Talbot this season.
He didn’t like backup Jonas Gustavsson right from training camp, and played Talbot incessantly because of it. By the time the unproven Laurent Brossoit came up from the farm team, the games were too important to give the kid more than the odd start every couple of weeks.
So the backup sat, and Talbot played, and played, and played – almost 500 minutes more than the next-busiest goalie, Martin Jones in San Jose.
Talbot would go on to lead the National Hockey League in wins (42), saves (1,946) and face the most shots (2,117). And that was all going to be just fine – as long as he didn’t fold under the workload.
Because McLellan had no Plan B.
Friday night in Anaheim, Plan A absolutely carried his team to a 2-1 victory over the Ducks, stealing Game 2 and a commanding 2-0 series lead in this second-round series. It was a tremendous display of goaltending, with the Oilers mightily out-chanced by Anaheim.
“Aren’t you tired?” asked a reporter.
“Do I look tired?” Talbot said.
He made 39 saves, and in the time-honoured tradition of his craft, played well enough to fully deserve the three or four posts and crossbars hit by the Ducks.
“Unless the horn goes off right after, [hearing that post] is the best feeling you can have if you know that you’re beat. I’ll take that any time I can get it,” said Talbot.
Asked to grade the consistent, high-pedigree game he’s giving this upstart Oilers team this spring, even Talbot couldn’t dance around the obvious answer: This is the best he’s ever played in his life.
“Consistently I think I’d have to say yes,” said Talbot, who turns 30 July 5. “Guys are doing a great job in front of me, but I’m finding some of those pucks that maybe I wouldn’t have found before. You’re not going to win without goaltending in the playoffs. I’m just trying to give us a chance every night.”
On Wednesday night Leon Draisaitl’s four-point night buried Les Canards in a 5-3 win. Mark Letestu and Adam Larsson each had two goals.
On Friday, Larsson’s partner, Oscar Klefbom, played 24:20, Andrej Sekera put the first shot of the game behind John Gibson – a bad goal for the Ducks netminder – and Pat Maroon directed a struggling Jordan Eberle’s pass in for the game-winner.
What the hockey world is learning here is something folks in Northern Alberta have known for some time. This isn’t just Connor McDavid and a bunch of guys.
The Oilers are good. Period.
“Those guys have been great for us all season. I’ve seen it, the guys who cover our team have seen it,” said McDavid, who found more open ice in this game than any so far in the playoffs, which could be the worst development for Anaheim. “Maybe worldwide, they’re getting a little more credit now that we’re in the playoffs, maybe a few more people are paying attention. But we have a deep team.”
And the Ducks? Well, they’re in a deep hole, losers of the first two games at home and en route to Edmonton, a hockey-mad city that’s starting to smell something special brewing down at Rogers Place.
“If you’re going to play a long time, you’re going to have adversity,” said Gibson, who faced 23 shots to Talbot’s 40. “We have it now. If we want to have success, we have a job to get done.”
Every winning team has a goalie that steals a game or two along the way, and the Oilers can certainly check that box off with Talbot. They’re also fulfilling that other playoff cliché – a new hero every night – as they head home to a building where Edmonton has won 11 of its last 12 games.
“The guy wearing the big pads was our hero tonight,” said McLellan, who looked out over the gathered media when asked why Talbot hasn’t been talked about for the Vezina this season. “You media guys would have to answer that question, not me. I appreciate the hell out of this guy.
“I understand you can’t have eight nominees for the Hart Trophy or [Vezina Trophy]. Maybe I’m biased, but I know where my vote would have went.”
Meanwhile, the roles have reversed in a hurry in this series.
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The Ducks announced Friday that, after a 5 p.m. local start Sunday for Game 3, they’ll take the 70-minute flight to Kelowna, B.C., for two days prior to Wednesday’s Game 4.
“It’s about getting away ourselves, calming things down. Calm the nerves, settle down,” said head coach Randy Carlyle.
Settling down. Calming nerves.
That was supposed to be Edmonton’s problem in this series.
