Jeff Glass made 42 saves to win his NHL debut Friday night at Rogers Place as the Chicago Blackhawks edged the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in overtime.
Glass, 32, was drafted 89th overall by Ottawa in 2004. He’s played 173 KHL games and 157 in the AHL.
“He played a great game and a lot of time you get that from a goaltender playing his first game. He waited his whole life to get here and I thought he was a rallying point for their team,” said Oilers head coach Todd McLellan. “We had 45 on him — give him credit, he played a hell of a game, but we’ve seen that movie before with backup goaltenders that we don’t beat.
“He definitely played a solid game in there — we put a lot on him, maybe we could have generated a few more second and third opportunities,” added Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “That’s how we ended up scoring two of the three goals anyways, so he did stand tall in there for them. We found a way to break him at the end but it’s disappointing we couldn’t get the second point.”
The Oilers applied pressure in the first period, peppering Glass with 19 shots. Glass felt that helped ease him into the game.
“In the first there, it felt nice to touch the puck — I’m sure if I didn’t have any shots I would have been sitting there wondering, ‘What’s going on?’ But it felt nice to touch the puck, get some saves early and then it kind of felt routine after that,” explained Glass. “We have a great team here — it’s just easy to stop the puck back there and just do my job.”
“He played unbelievable. He was the only reason we were in that game, especially that first period when they were buzzing pretty good,” said Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane. “An amazing, amazing performance by him. You’ve got to feel so happy for him and just seeing his smile there after we won and how happy he was — that can make anyone’s night.”
Glass stopped Leon Draisaitl on a breakaway halfway through the frame, and denied Milan Lucic’s one-timer in the final 10 seconds. Only Jesse Puljujarvi could beat him, sweeping in a power-play rebound with 5:34 left. Ryan Hartman answered for Chicago at 19:05 of the first.
Alex DeBrincat scored the only goal of the second period shortly after the Oilers missed a chance to clear the puck while killing a penalty. DeBrincat beat Cam Talbot five-hole to put Chicago ahead 2-1. The Oilers fired another 12 shots on goal and had several good chances without connecting.
The Oilers took a too many men penalty in the third. Jordan Oesterle, a former Oiler, scored his first NHL goal when his point shot hit the post, hit Talbot’s back and dribbled over the line with 11:32 left. With Talbot pulled for an extra attacker, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins floated a long shot past Glass with 2:19 to go. With 54.2 ticks remaining and Talbot again on the bench, Draisaitl banged in a rebound to even it up.
In overtime, Patrick Kane worked in from the right side. His deke try hit the post, but he was able to stuff in the rebound.
Oilers forward Draisaitl felt that he could have done a better job defending Kane in the 3-on-3 situation.
“He made me look like a junior player, that’s what happened,” explained Draisaitl.
“Patrick Kane can make a lot of players look like that in a one-on-one situation,” added McLellan, describing what he saw from the bench. “They had the puck the entire time in overtime and he made a great play. He’s done that to many, many players in the NHL that are very skilled and talented like Leon is.”
Talbot made 32 saves. Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and two assists.
The Oilers (17-18-3) host Winnipeg on Sunday.