Oilers Down Blackhawks in OT, Blues Edge Avalanche

By ESPN

The Edmonton Oilers haven't gotten off to the start they wanted -- and just about everyone expected.

On Thursday night, they used sharp goaltending from Cam Talbot, a more energetic effort and a late break to inch in the right direction.

Mark Letestu scored on a power play with 15.8 seconds left in overtime to give Edmonton a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks that snapped a four-game losing streak.

Letestu beat Anton Forsberg on the short side with a one-time shot from the left circle after taking a pass from Oscar Klefbom. Edmonton's 4-on-3 advantage was set up after Patrick Kane was called for hooking at 3:45.

"Our goaltender was solid and our power-play got us the big goal," Letestu said. "(It's) certainly nice to finally have a complete game like that and beat a team like this."

The Oilers are 2-4 so far, after surging to 103 points and back into the playoffs last season. During the four-game slide, Edmonton was outscored 19-8.

"We're still digging the sand off our bodies. We've got to keep going," coach Todd McLellan said.

Talbot made 30 straight saves after giving up a fluke goal to Kane on Chicago's first shot.

"It wasn't the way I wanted to start the game," Talbot said. "I had to settle down mentally. I felt pretty comfortable out there."

Edmonton's Patrick Maroon scored late in the first period.

Edmonton's Connor McDavid had two assists, including setting up Maroon with a sensational spinning move and pinpoint backhand pass. McDavid has five assists in his last four games, but last season's MVP and leading scorer doesn't have a goal since netting all three in Edmonton's season-opening 3-0 victory over Calgary.

Talbot, who led NHL goalies in games and minutes last season, had been pulled twice as he started Edmonton's first four games this season. Backup Laurent Brossoit started Edmonton's fifth contest, a 5-3 home loss to Carolina on Tuesday night.

Anton Forsberg, Chicago's backup, stopped 40 shots in his second start this season, but the Blackhawks lost their second straight and third in four games. No. 1 goalie Corey Crawford got the night off following a 5-2 loss at St. Louis on Wednesday night.

Forsberg has hard-luck overtime losses in both of this starts. He faced 43 shots in a 4-3 defeat at Toronto on Oct. 9.

"He's been excellent in both games," coach Joel Quenneville said. "Got it to overtime. It would have been nice to get him a win tonight."

Chicago failed to convert five power plays, including a 56-second 5-on-3 advantage.

"That was a chance to get a huge goal for us on the power play," Quenneville said. "A lot of close looks, but no finish."

Kane opened the scoring 7:33 in. From the right side of crease, Kane flipped a soft backhander toward Talbot, and the puck ticked off the goalie's stick and right pad before settling into the net.

Talbot bounced back to stop Jonathan Toews on a breakaway moments later and Duncan Keith's point-blank one-timer at 9:00.

Maroon's tap-in goal, converting McDavid's nifty pass, tied with 2:42 left in the period.

McDavid moved in against Keith, Chicago's All-Star defenseman. McDavid turned his back to Keith, shuffled and then dished across the crease to Maroon, who connected after slipping past defenseman Brent Seabrook.

Talbot maintained his focus into the scoreless second and during three Chicago power plays early in the period, including the 5-on-3 Blackhawks advantage. He made several close-in stops, including on Patrick Sharp, Brandon Saad and Toews. Kane clanked a shot off the crossbar during one flurry.

Forsberg denied McDavid, Anton Slepyshev and Brad Malone at the doorstep late in the period to keep it tied.

Both goalies made several tough saves in the third.

Forsberg stopped Kailer Yamamoto point-blank three times late in the period. Talbot got a piece of Toews' shot from the slot with 7:13 remaining, then the puck trickled just wide of the right post.

Talbot and Forsberg were both sharp overtime.

Blues 4, Avalanche 3

Robert Bortuzzo took full responsibility for plowing into his own goaltender to set up an easy and momentum-swinging goal for Colorado.

The St. Louis defenseman made up for it minutes later with the sealing goal.

Jaden Schwartz and Vince Dunn added goals 52 seconds apart in the second period and the Blues overcame three crazy plays down the stretch to beat the Avalanche 4-3 on Thursday night.

"It weighs on you a bit," Bortuzzo said about the costly collision. "So to put in a goal, it relieves some of that stress."

Here's a look at some of the bounces in a bizarre third period:

- Blake Comeau scored what amounted to be an empty-netter with goaltender Carter Hutton on the ice after Bortuzzo crashed into him.

- Alexander Kerfoot tapped in a funny carom as Hutton chased after the puck behind the net with 4:20 remaining.

- Mikko Rantanen had the tying goal disallowed with less than 3 minutes remaining after St. Louis challenged. The video replay showed Sven Andrighetto was offside as the Avalanche dropped their third straight.

"A couple of bad bounces. But our goalie was good," Paul Stastny said. "Found a way to squeeze it out."

It was quite a night for Stastny, the former Avalanche player who still makes his offseason home in Denver. He added a goal and an assist to give him 601 career points. The 600-point plateau runs in the Stastny family, with father Peter recording 1,239 points and uncle Anton accumulating 636.

"It's cool. It's special," Stastny said. "Anytime we can add to that Stastny history and legacy, it's always nice."

Schwartz followed up his hat trick in a 5-2 victory over Chicago on Wednesday night with another goal. He beat Jonathan Bernier with a shot while tumbling to the ice.

Colorado pulled Bernier with around 1:41 left and had several quality scoring chances turned aside by Hutton.

Comeau cut the deficit to 3-2 early in the third period on an unusual play. Comeau and Bortuzzo collided near the goal, with Bortuzzo falling on top of Hutton off to the side of the net. While both were on the ground, Comeau tapped his stick to call for the puck and easily scored once Colin Wilson got it to him.

St. Louis challenged the play for goaltender's interference, but after video replay the referee ruled it a good goal.

Bortuzzo restored the two-goal lead midway through the third period. It was his first goal since last November and appeared more than enough for Hutton. But then a puck took a big hop off the boards and right to Kerfoot, who tapped it in to make it 4-3.

"I think I got some pretty fortunate bounces tonight," said Kerfoot, who also scored in the first period. "I just wanted to move my feet. The coaches talked to me after the Nashville game and just said that I needed to be more intense and harder on pucks and that's what I tried to do today."

This proved to be a costly game for the Avalanche, with J.T. Compher suffering a broken thumb. Patrik Nemeth and Tyson Jost also had lower-body injuries.

"We lost some guys to injury and the guys that were still in our lineup, up front especially ... played their hearts out," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I loved the way we competed."

Stastny tied it at 1 just 39 seconds into the second period. The goal came after defenseman Alex Pietrangelo broke up an Avalanche scoring chance. Stastny was then fed a pass, took a quick look at Vladimir Tarasenko on his left before lining a shot that clanged off the inside post.

In a television interview between periods, Stastny said that scoring his milestone points in the Mile High City was like "coming full circle." He played nearby at the University of Denver and spent his first eight seasons in an Avalanche sweater.

"Funny how the world works like that," Stastny said.

Thursday, October 19 Scoreboard

Boston 6, Vancouver 3

New York Islanders 4, New York Rangers 3 (SO)

Nashville 1, Philadelphia 0

Tampa Bay 2, Columbus 0

New Jersey 5, Ottawa 4 (OT)

Edmonton 2, Chicago 1 (OT)

St. Louis 4, Colorado 3

Carolina 2, Calgary 1

Dallas 5, Arizona 4

Friday, October 20 Schedule (All Times Central)

Vancouver at Buffalo, 6 p.m.

San Jose at New Jersey, 6 p.m.

Washington at Detroit, 6:30 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Florida, 6:30 p.m.

Minnesota at Winnipeg, 7 p.m.

Montreal at Anaheim, 9 p.m.

Saturday, October 21 Schedule (All Times Central)

Nashville at New York Rangers, 11:30 a.m.

Edmonton at Philadelphia, noon

Buffalo at Boston, 6 p.m.

Toronto at Ottawa, 6 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay, 6 p.m.

San Jose at New York Islanders, 6 p.m.

Los Angeles at Columbus, 6 p.m.

Florida at Washington, 6:30 p.m.

Carolina at Dallas, 7 p.m.

Chicago at Arizona, 8 p.m.

Minnesota at Calgary, 9 p.m.

St. Louis at Vegas, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, October 22 Schedule (Time Central)

Vancouver at Detroit, 6 p.m.