Talbot leads Oilers past Jets

WINNIPEG -- Cam Talbot made 39 saves and the Edmonton Oilers won for the fourth time in their past five games with a 2-1 victory against the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 at MTS Centre on Sunday.
Talbot has won his past four starts. He has a .979 save percentage over that stretch.
"The result of him being a wall back there, giving us an opportunity to scratch and claw for wins, has been pretty impressive," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "If we can keep him up and running and healthy, not only this [season] but moving forward, we feel we've got a really good one there."

Pat Maroon and Lauri Korpikoski each had a goal for the Oilers (26-35-7), who finished their four-game road trip 3-1-0. In each of their past four wins, they have allowed no more than one goal.

The Oilers went ahead to stay with 3:40 left in the second period. Winnipeg goaltender Ondrej Pavelec stopped Andrej Sekera's in-close backhander, but Korpikoski put the rebound past Pavelec for his second goal in the past three games. Before his recent run, he had gone 32 games without a goal.
"It's a funny game that way," said Korpikoski, who had been moved during the game to a line with Connor McDavid and Jordan Eberle to add defensive help. "But you've just got to stay with it. You can't start cheating the game. You've got to play the right way every game, and hopefully the chances will come."
Talbot, who had shut out the Philadelphia Flyers in his previous start last Thursday, credited an improved focus on defensively responsible play for the recent success.
"Ever since, I think, a couple of games before the NHL Trade Deadline in California, we have made a conscious effort to focus a little bit more on our zone, maybe be a little more responsible with the third man high, staying above their outlets, and we've been doing a heck of a job not giving up too many odd-man rushes because that was our Achilles heel for a little bit there," Talbot said.

"We weren't giving up much anywhere else, but the 2-on-1s and the 3-on-2s were beating us."
Winnipeg (27-33-5) lost for the fourth time in its past five games. The Jets finish a five-game homestand Tuesday against the Nashville Predators having gone 3-11-1 in their past 15 home games.
"We've had [Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Nikolaj Ehlers] go out of our lineup in the past two weeks, so the games are going to look like this," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "We're trying to generate offense without having to give too much up. We're trying to pound that good defensive game into them."
Mark Scheifele, who had his first career hat trick in a 4-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, scored for the Jets. He has six goals in his past three games. Pavelec made 29 saves.

Scheifele nearly tied the game with 49 seconds left, but he hit the crossbar.
"I had a pretty good angle on it," Scheifele said. "I thought it was definitely going in, so it was a pretty heartbreaking sound to hear."
Acquired from the Anaheim Ducks at the trade deadline, Maroon took a pass to the slot from Taylor Hall, beat Winnipeg forward Marko Dano to the net and flipped a shot past Pavelec at 5:25 of the second period. Maroon has two goals and two assists in three games with the Oilers after scoring four goals in 56 games with Anaheim.
"We got pucks deep, we grinded them down low and we played meat-and-potatoes kind of game," Maroon said. "We've been harping on that for the past few games. We've got to continue that because it has been working for us."

Scheifele tied it 51 seconds later with a one-timer from the right circle. He leads the Jets with 21 goals.
Edmonton played with five defensemen after Brandon Davidson collided with Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien halfway through the first period. Sekera ended up playing 26:30, his second-highest total of the season. McLellan said that Davidson will be examined further Monday.
"It didn't look good, and he couldn't return," McLellan said. "I would say right now it's not looking good, but until we get him in to be reviewed, that's all we can really [say]."