Only for Guild Members » Oilers have McDavid to build around

NEW YORK (AP) — Cam Talbot had every reason to celebrate as the buzzer sounded and the Edmonton Oilers cemented their first win of the season.Talbot stopped 23 shots against his former team Calgary Flames T-Shirts Womens , Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist to lead the Oilers past the New York Rangers 2-1 Saturday.It was also Talbot’s first win over the Rangers, the team he helped reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 2014 as a backup to Henrik Lundqvist. Talbot was all smiles as the Oilers prepared to fly home after their season-opener in Sweden and two weeks overall on the road.“This is right up there with the first win of my career,” said the 31-year-old goaltender, who spent two seasons with the Rangers before they traded him to the Oilers before the 2015-16 season. “I hadn’t gotten the best of them yet so I was definitely looking forward to that and happy to get this out of the way.”McDavid scored his second of the season at 6:23 of the third period, redirecting the puck past goalie Henrik Lundqvist on the power play with Rangers forward Vladislav Namesnikov in the penalty box for holding. Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had assists.The Oilers lost their season opener 5-2 against the New Jersey Devils in Sweden before dropping their next game 4-1 on Thursday at Boston.The 21-year-old McDavid, who has led the league in points each of the past two seasons, has points on all five Oilers goals in three games this season. The Edmonton captain, the Oilers’ first overall selection in the 2015 NHL draft, is one of 11 first-round picks on the roster.“We’ve only scored five goals in three games. When offense isn’t there, you need to check. I thought we did a great job finally getting a win in a tough building,” McDavid said. “It wasn’t the prettiest way to win a game but we needed to win a game.”Mika Zibanejad opened the scoring for the Rangers with 7:11 to go in the first period. The fleet Zibanejad took a pass from defenseman Marc Staal and put the puck past the former Talbot. Defenseman Brendan Smith also assisted on Zibanejad’s first goal this season.Zibanejad also twice rang shots off posts behind Talbot, who also denied the forward in the waning seconds..“We came out really well in the first 10 minutes and kind of slowed down a little bit after that,” Zibanejad said. “I thought we had plenty of chances to put this one away.”Nugent-Hopkins tied it with 5:43 left, tapping a rebound past Lundqvist for his first this season. Defenseman Darnell Nurse — playing his 200th NHL game — and McDavid assisted.The Rangers came out with purpose for the matinee against the previously winless Oilers. The home team was coming off its first win, a 3-2 overtime victory over San Jose on Thursday after opening the season with three losses under new coach David Quinn.Lundqvist made 25 saves and the Rangers defense was steady for the most part. But timely scoring has emerged as a problem area as New York has started the season with four losses in five games.Quinn — who made the leap from Boston University to the NHL when he replaced Alain Vigneault after last season — said he is seeking a fiercer approach when his squad has the puck.“We have to have more tenacity offensively,” Quinn said. “And we have to shoot more. Shooting creates opportunities.”The Rangers had won each of their last five games against the Oilers Calgary Flames Hoodies Womens , dating back to Dec. 15, 2015.Staal, 31, the second-most senior player on the Rangers’ roster after Lundqvist, said he remained confident despite the result and was heartened by the team’s work ethic.“I liked the start of our game. We had good legs and good pace,” he said. “We just have to find a way as a team to be confident in these situations and close out a game.”NOTES: The Rangers visit Edmonton on March 11 to complete the season series. … Rangers D Kevin Shattenkirk returned to the lineup after he was healthy scratch in the previous game. … The Rangers scratched D Neal Pionk, D Tony DeAngelo and F Cody McLeod. … Edmonton scratched F Zach Kassian, F Alex Chiasson and D Matt Benning.UP NEXTRangers: Host Colorado on Tuesday night.Oilers: Visit Winnipeg on Tuesday night. John Tavares didn’t just follow his heart home to Toronto.In his head, he envisioned the Maple Leafs as a perennial contender.“I came here believing that we can win a Stanley Cup year in, year out,” Tavares said.In Year One of the Tavares era with young stars Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner riding shotgun, the Maple Leafs are expected to make the playoffs and go on a run next spring. And even after the Winnipeg Jets reached the Western Conference finals, Toronto appears to have the best chance to end Canada’s Stanley Cup drought that dates back a quarter-century to 1993.“The big picture is obviously to always win the Stanley Cup and to not take any year for granted and always to believe every year, especially with the team we have that that’s where we want to get to,” Tavares said. “First and foremost you’ve got to take the small steps and look at the small goals, the small building blocks to get there. I think you’ve got to enjoy that process Calgary Flames Hats Womens , enjoy that journey.”Toronto has 13 championships but none since 1967, when the NHL was a six-team league. Signing Tavares to a $77 million, seven-year contract has raised optimism the drought will end soon — another big move following the hiring of coach Mike Babcock in 2015 and picking Matthews first overall in 2016.“You add him, and we have a good core,” Matthews said. “We want to definitely keep that core together obviously because we want to see ourselves in a position to win every year for the next 10 years.”To get there, the Maple Leafs have to get through a competitive Eastern Conference that includes the defending champion Capitals, back-to-back 2016 and 2017 champion Penguins and the well-established Lightning and Bruins. The Leafs are coming off back-to-back first-round exits and hope to get reliable goaltending from Frederik Andersen and solid defense to avoid a similar result.SOARING JETSThe path to the Cup Final isn’t any easier for Winnipeg, which was one of the final two teams alive in the West last season before losing to Vegas. The Jets lost deadline pickup Paul Stastny in free agency but otherwise bring back the same group and the same big expectations to play games into June.“We’re really close,” center Mark Scheifele said. “We have a bunch of young guys that are still coming into their own, that are still learning about the league. That run that we had last year is so crucial in terms of experience that you were able to gain that experience, gain that hunger for what could be coming.”Scheifele, captain Blake Wheeler, center Bryan Little, winger Nikolai Ehlers and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck are all signed long term, and Finnish phenom Patrik Laine is coming off a 43-goal season. Winnipeg will again have to deal with Central Division-rival Nashville but is as well positioned as anyone to come out of the West.FLAMING INMissing the playoffs brought changes in Calgary. The Flames fired coach Glen Gulutzan and replaced him with Bill Peters, traded Dougie Hamilton and Micheal Ferland to Carolina for Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm Custom Calgary Flames Jerseys , and signed James Neal.“I think Noah is just scratching the surface,” general manager Brad Treliving said. “We’ve got some guys on the blue line who can produce. We also want guys who want to be in Calgary. … Elias and Noah, they’re excited to get out there.”Lindholm and Hanifin should be excited to join a team with forwards Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan and defensemen Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie. The Flames could be scary good this season in a Pacific Division that got weaker with a long-term injury to Anaheim’s Corey Perry.WELL-OILED MCDAVIDConnor McDavid led the NHL with 108 points last season and was voted the most outstanding player by his peers. His Edmonton Oilers finished 17 points out of the final playoff spot in the West. That doesn’t compute except Edmonton’s goaltenders had the fifth-worst save percentage in the league and the rest of the Oilers couldn’t keep up with McDavid’s production. He’d like to score more goals this season but learned from last year that it’s not about him.“It doesn’t matter what one player does at all,” McDavid said. “It’s all about the team, and if one guy’s having success, it doesn’t mean that the team’s having success and you’ve got to find a way to win games and that’s not one guy.”One guy who needs to be better is goalie Cam Talbot. And it wouldn’t hurt if Edmonton’s defensemen all took a step up.NO MAN’S LANDToronto, Winnipeg and Calgary appear to be in good shape for years to come and the Oilers have McDavid to build around. The rest of Canada’s teams are in trouble.The Ottawa Senators traded two-time Norris Trophy winning defenseman Erik Karlsson and winger Mike Hoffman and can’t even look forward to a silver lining if they bottom out: the Colorado Avalanche own their first-round pick.“We’re looking to have a competitive, good hockey team this year and we’re aiming to be the best we can be and we can be a very good team with the roster we have,” said center Matt Duchene, who was acquired in the trade that cost the Senators that 2019 first-round pick.Ottawa is expected to be among the worst teams in the NHL, but at least that’s clarity compared to the Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks. Both appear stuck between rebuilding and trying to stay afloat.“Obviously it’s in transition with Hank and Danny (Sedin) being gone and having that void to fill,” Vancouver forward Bo Horvat said. “We know where we’re at as a team, we know what we have to do and we know that we got young guys coming up that are going to have to try to prove themselves as everyday NHLers.”Montreal has a potential star in third overall pick Jesperi Kotkaniemi and can always dream big because of goaltender Carey Price.“He’s the best goalie in the world,” forward Max Domi said. “It’s going to be awesome to have him back there.”