Cam Talbot made 26 saves and Connor McDavid scored on a breakaway in the second period as the Edmonton Oilers blanked the Vancouver Canucks 2-0 on Friday night at Rogers Arena.
Milan Lucic, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Oilers (7-1-0), who have won five straight, including a 4-1 victory over Washington on Wednesday that gave Edmonton its best season start since 1985.
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Talbot, who has started all eight games this season, recorded his second shutout in three games.
The Canucks (4-3-1) have lost four straight after starting the season with a four-game win streak. Ryan Miller started his fourth game of the season and made 25 saves.
Vancouver, which was coming off a 3-0 shutout loss to visiting Ottawa, came into the game among the bottom of the NHL in scoring with 14 goals. The Canucks last scored Oct. 23 in the third period at Anaheim.
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McDavid broke the stalemate when he took a backhand pass from Lucic and wheeled past the Canucks defence to slip the puck through Miller’s legs at 11:31 of the second. It was his fifth of the season and extended his point streak to four games (two goals, four assists).
A quiet first period erupted midway when Erik Gudbranson took exception to a Zack Kassian check and traded blows with the ex-Canuck. Soon after boos rained down for local product Lucic when the hulking Oilers forward took a roughing penalty, but the Canucks squandered the power-play opportunity. Despite outshooting Edmonton 9-6, Vancouver has yet to score at home this season in the first period.
There was more end-to-end action in the second with Jannik Hansen getting a point-blank shot from the slot that Talbot turned aside. The Oilers goalie also made a spectacular glove save on Markus Granlund midway that had the large contingent of Oilers fans cheering.
Talbot was equally impressive early in the third as he swatted away a Henrik Sedin slapshot. At the other end, Miller faced down McDavid on another breakaway, but this time made a fast glove save to keep his team in the game.
Lucic added the empty-net goal to put the game out of reach.
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