The Edmonton Oilers started the season with a record of 0-4-0. Frustration mounted and the offense struggled, but there was one positive from that first little stretch. It was the goaltending, led by Cam Talbot. In his first three games, Talbot posted SV%’s of .933, .923 and .862 against the St. Louis Blues (twice) and Nashville Predators.
Talbot was decent for Edmonton until October 27th when the team went to Minnesota. In that game, he posted a .857 mark and went into a tailspin. That tailspin featured the horrendous goal allowed against Calgary with just seconds remaining to lose his team the game. The presumed starter did not see his SV% touch .900 again until December 14th. That’s right, he went a month and a half between solid starts.
That game against Boston, however, has seemingly set Talbot on the right path. In that game, he made a career high 47 saves and recorded a .959 SV% while stealing Edmonton a victory. On Monday night, he did it again, stopping 44 this time and posting a .978 mark in Edmonton’s 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.
Allowing 40+ shots and hoping Talbot bails you out will not be a winning recipe as the season goes on. It could be Patrick Roy in net, it doesn’t matter, if you’re giving up over 40 shots a night, you are going to lose. That said, it’s nice to see Edmonton get solid goaltending from the guy they invested so heavily in this past summer.
As Edmonton gets healthy, the team will get better. When Connor McDavid, Nail Yakupov, Brandon Davidson and Oscar Klefbom return, they’ll post more shots for and as a result allow less rubber on net. That’ll help them in a big way, it’ll keep them competitive and keep possession closer. They’ll still need the solid goaltending, however.
Cam Talbot is playing confident right now, and that’s a huge sign. Last season, when Henrik Lundqvist went down and Talbot took over, the goalie actually struggled for a time. Once he gained his confidence, however, it was over, Talbot was a star for the Rangers in net.
Was that terrible six start stretch the same feeling out process that Talbot suffered from last year when he first took over? Far too early to tell, he’s had three solid starts since then and that is too small of a sample size. However, from watching him in Boston and against Winnipeg, he looks like a different goalie from that stretch.
It’s not just the fact that he’s making saves either, he looks confident for the first time as an Oiler. He’s challenging guys but he’s not being overly aggressive. He’s reading the play and reacting to it, that’s what he had success doing in New York last season.
Edmonton is in the thick of the playoff chase in the poor Pacific Division right now. How long it lasts is anyone’s guess, but if Edmonton can get solid goaltending moving forward, they could be in it for a while. Cam Talbot, as we saw in New York, has the ability to give Edmonton that kind of goaltending.
He’s confident in himself again, he trusts his game and it appears that he trusts the guys in front of him to make the right plays. Again, it’s only three games, but he’s starting to look like the goalie the Oilers thought they were getting back in June at the annual entry draft.
Peter Chiarelli made a bet on Cam Talbot. For the first two months, that bet looked like it was going sideways, but a robbery against the Boston Bruins seemingly has gotten Talbot’s confidence back. If he’s playing a confident style, then Edmonton can count on some solid goaltending from their guy.
Boy, wouldn’t that be refreshing? I look forward to seeing what he can do after the Christmas break as Edmonton opens up a very key stretch against divisional opponents.
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