Edmonton, AB (SportsNetwork.com) – Ben Scrivens made 29 saves en route to his
first shutout of the season as the Edmonton Oilers handed the Montreal
Canadiens their second loss of the young campaign in a 3-0 final on Monday.
Edmonton went winless in its first five games of the season but has since
ripped off four straight victories — all with Scrivens in net.
“I thought the guys in front of me did a great job,” said Scrivens. “Lot of
big blocks for us. I thought they did really well clearing pucks.”
Benoit Pouliot scored his first goal as an Oiler and assisted on Nail
Yakupov’s tally, while Taylor Hall added a empty-netter late in regulation.
Carey Price was given the night off and his backup, Dustin Tokarski, made 16
saves for the Canadiens, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.
“If we didn’t score, that means we weren’t good enough,” said defenseman
Andrei Markov. “We have to work harder and be better tomorrow.”
Montreal had an early goal waived off because Brendan Gallagher was ruled to
have made contact with Scrivens, and the Oilers broke the scoreless tie in the
waning seconds of the opening period.
Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov fell at the blue line trying to keep the
puck in the zone, and Mark Arcobello chased down the loose disc to start a 2-
on-1 with Pouliot, who received Arcobello’s pass and beat Tokarski with a
backhand between the pads with 18.2 seconds on the clock.
Pouliot, an offseason free agent addition, set up Edmonton’s next goal with a
pass through the crease that Yakupov tapped in at 6:33 of the second period.
The Canadiens peppered Scrivens with 12 shots in the third period that were
all turned aside.
Game Notes
Scrivens has posted seven shutouts in his four-year career … Montreal
opponents have scored the first goal in seven of their nine games this season
… Neither team scored on the power play, as Edmonton went 0-for-6 and
Montreal went 0-for-4 … The Oilers will play the sixth game of their seven-
game homestand on Wednesday against the Predators … Montreal makes a quick
trip to Calgary to play the Flames on Tuesday.
