It had been nearly three weeks since Cam Talbot has been in game action for the Edmonton Oilers, but return to the lineup Saturday in a winning effort.
Talbot, who missed the last six games with an upper-body injury, stopped 29 shots and the Oilers defeated the Minnesota Wild 3-1 at Xcel Energy Center. The Oilers activated Talbot off of injured reserves Dec. 15; Talbot had last played Nov. 28 in a 3-2 victory against the Arizona Coyotes.
The 30-year-old goaltender told reporters he was hopeful that he would " ... pick up where I left off."
Before he was injured, Talbot held a 3-0-0 record in his past three starts, with a .923 save-percentage. In his return, he stopped 29 of 31 shots, with Wild defenseman Matt Dumba scoring twice, and the rest of the Wild skaters going 0-for-29.
"I thought I did a good job battling throughout the rest of the game & cleaned stuff up along the way." @ctalbot33 on settling into rhythm after giving up one pic.twitter.com/0srpHX3FGC
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 16, 2017
Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins opened the scoring at the 10:45 mark of the second period with a shorthanded tally, his third goal in his last six games. Dumba tied the game for the Wild nearly three minutes later but Edmonton scored two unanswered goals to give Talbot a 3-1 cushion.
Talbot's return comes with the Oilers still needing to make up ground in the Western Conference standings. In Talbot's absence, Edmonton posted a 3-4-0 record and allowed 24 goals, failing to compile consecutive wins. Laurent Brossoit, who filled in for Talbot, made each start, posting an .890 save-percentage on 200 shots faced. The Oilers haven't been able to make much progress in their climb toward the top-eight, sitting in 14th in the West, now seven points behind eighth-place Minnesota after the Saturday victory. Edmonton is also eight points behind the San Jose Sharks for third in the Pacific Division, but three teams sit between the Oilers and Sharks.