Tons of chances but no goals for the Edmonton Oilers Sunday night in Toronto. Curtis McElhinney made 41 saves as the Leafs escaped with a 1-0 victory.
The game-winner came on the Maple Leaf’s first shot on goal. Just 34 seconds in, Jake Gardiner’s point shot was tipped by Zach Hyman and crept through Laurent Brossoit’s pads.
“I thought for sure we were the better team, we definitely deserved a little better tonight,” said captain Connor McDavid. “Credit to them, they held on, and played good defense. Their goalie was hot.”
Action picked up in the second period with the Oilers shorthanded. After a Leafs shot hit the post, Darnell Nurse cleared the puck off the goal line. Seconds later, Connor McDavid sped away on a breakaway, but Curtis McElhinney denied the backhand deke. The Oilers had a two-minute five-on-three power play late in the second period. Leon Draisaitl drilled a shot off the post and McElhinney denied a Mark Letestu one-timer to hold the Oilers off the board.
“We played hard, we were very competitive. We’ve strung two good games together now, unfortunately we didn’t get the results. Unfortunately tonight the puck wasn’t going to cross the line for us, didn’t matter what we did,” explained head coach Todd McLellan. “You have one or two like that a year. The unfortunate thing is we’re not in a situation where we can give up those points like we did tonight. I can’t complain about the effort of our group.”
The Oilers were on the power play again early in the third, and again they couldn’t cash in. McElhinney made a couple of good saves, and McDavid ripped a wrist shot off the goal post. The Oilers continued to apply pressure but couldn’t find the tying goal.
McElhinney improves to 6-0 in his career against the Oilers. Brossoit made 22 saves.
“It’s one of those things where we can’t hang our heads, we’ve got to find ways to bounce back,” said Patrick Maroon. “This is a game that, I feel like we should have had it. We threw everything, the whole kitchen sink at them. The goalie just made some good saves.”
The Oilers, now 12-16-2 on the season, outshot the Leafs 19-7 in the second period and 16-5 in the third. They’ll visit Columbus on Tuesday.
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