Cam Talbot takes blame for Oilers' Game 3 loss to Ducks

EDMONTON-- Edmonton Oilers goalie Cam Talbot pointed the finger at himself after allowing six goals on 28 shots in a 6-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks in Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round at Rogers Place on Sunday.
Talbot and the Oilers were caught early in the game, when Rickard Rakell scored on a breakaway 25 seconds after the opening faceoff.

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"They caught us on a sneaky play there right off the bat and I didn't make the save, really, that I needed to," Talbot said. "And I didn't make a lot of other saves during the game that I needed to. That's on me to make some of those big saves that I've been making that I didn't make tonight."
Talbot said he wasn't worried about any leftover effect from Game 3 and that he'd be ready for Game 4 on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVA Sports).
"I just flush it like I've been doing with every other game that's happened like this all year," he said. "I feel like I've been pretty good at bouncing back so I'm going to go through my process and forget about this one, have a couple good days of practice and be ready to play Wednesday night."

Talbot's teammates wouldn't allow him to take full responsibility for the loss.
"Cam's been the backbone of this team," Oilers right wing Jordan Eberle said. "He basically stole Game 2 for us (making 39 saves in a 2-1 win Friday)."
Oilers left wing Pat Maroon, who scored in the first period Sunday, said Talbot was left to do far too much in Game 3.
"That's not on him," Maroon said. "That's on the players, being on their toes and being ready and being focused. Cam's been there all year for us. That's not Cam's fault. That's just being sloppy, not winning battles on the boards, not getting pucks out, not focusing on our structure. That's not Cam's fault by any means."
Talbot started 73 games during the regular season, most in the NHL, and his 42 wins set an Oilers record previously held by Hockey Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr, who had 40 in 1987-88.
The 29-year-old was fooled by the key goal of the game, a shot from near the right boards from Anaheim forward Chris Wagner that made it 4-3, shortly after the Oilers had scored twice to tie it.
As Wagner went to shoot, forward Benoit Pouliot partially checked Wagner's stick, causing the puck to arrive at the net at a lower speed than Talbot expected.
Because of that, Talbot's reaction was ahead of the arriving puck.
"It was kind of a knuckle puck from the corner and I tried to punch it away and it wasn't going as fast as I thought," Talbot said. "It just kind of changed speed on me. That was a deciding moment in the game. We had all the momentum, we had just tied the game [3-3] and a shot like that goes in that can't go in. It's just on me."