Cam Talbot, Oilers hang on for Game 2 win against Ducks

ANAHEIM --As good as Cam Talbot was for the Edmonton Oilers in the regular season, he's been even better in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Talbot made 39 saves, and the Oilers never trailed in a 2-1 victory against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round at Honda Center on Friday.
The Oilers lead the best-of-7 series 2-0 with Game 3 in Edmonton on Sunday.

WATCH: [All Oilers vs. Ducks highlights | RELATED: Complete Anaheim vs. Edmonton series coverage]
"The guys are doing a great job in front of me," said Talbot, who is 6-2 with a 2.03 goals-against average and .934 save percentage in the playoffs after going 42-22-8 with a 2.39 GAA and .919 save percentage in an NHL-high 73 starts in the regular season. "I'm finding some of those pucks that maybe I wouldn't have found before. That's what you need in the playoffs. You're not going to win without goaltending."
The Oilers have won four straight games, three of them on the road, since losing 7-0 to the San Jose Sharks in Game 4 of their first-round series.
Defenseman Andrej Sekera scored his first goal of the playoffs 1:05 into the game to put the Oilers up 1-0, and Pat Maroon scored on the power play at 6:41 of the second period to make it 2-0.

Zack Kassian thought he scored to put Edmonton ahead by two goals with 2:49 left in the first period, but Oilers center Mark Letestu was given a minor penalty for goaltender interference against John Gibson on the play.
Jakob Silfverberg scored a power-play goal to get the Ducks within 2-1 at 15:34 of the second, but Talbot made 18 saves the rest of the way, including 16 in the third period.
"He's a good goaltender," Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf said. "He's battled all year for those guys. We've got to do a better job getting in front of him ... the one's he couldn't see, a lot of them hit the post."
Patrick Eaves hit the post with a redirection at 9:35 of the third period with the Ducks on the power play, and defenseman Cam Fowler hit the crossbar with 7:58 remaining.
Sekera, whose shot beat Gibson to the short side through a screen, gave Talbot all the credit for the victory.
"He was stellar for us," Sekera said. "He won us the game. He made huge saves when we needed him. He was being Cam, as he has the whole season. We are happy he's in the net."

Goal of the game

Silfverberg shot high over Talbot's blocker during an Anaheim power play, 20 seconds after Edmonton's Darnell Nurse was penalized for high sticking. Talbot was screened by Eaves on Silfverberg's shot from the right faceoff circle.

Save of the game

Talbot stopped Josh Manson's slap shot from the point with his mask at 8:01 of the third period. Play was stopped at 8:09 because Talbot's mask was loose.

Unsung performance of the game

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was 9-for-20 (45.0 percent) on faceoffs for Edmonton, which went 25-for-69 (36.2 percent) as a team. He also got the second assist on Maroon's goal and had two blocked shots.

Highlight of the game

Maroon, who played 204 games with the Ducks from 2011-16, scored his second goal of the playoffs off a smart feed to the edge of the crease by Jordan Eberle. Stationed close to the Anaheim net, the puck went in off Maroon's right skate.

They said it

"There was a lot written and talked about, 'Is [goalie Cam Talbot] tired? Are you playing him too much?' It was like pulling hair to keep him out of the crease, to give him an off day. He loves to put the pads on and get out there and play. Part of his desire and ability to keep going rubs off on the rest of the guys. He's our go-to guy. He's earned every minute of it and he craves more." -- Oilers coach Todd McLellan

"I've always said it, we have a more experienced group than people give us credit for. We have a bunch of great leaders on this team that handle those momentum swings. We got a big kill there in the third period (after Kris Russell was called for holding Rickard Rakell's stick at 9:18) and kind of fed off that. We're comfortable playing from behind. We're comfortable playing from ahead. So it's a fun group to play with right now." -- Oilers captain Connor McDavid
"Nick Ritchie had the flu before the game and kind of set us back. We put [Jared Boll] in, and he did OK for his short tenure, drew a penalty in the offensive zone. We score on that power play. All those things are positives, but we're going to need 20 guys, again, to play closer to what we played tonight, and if we can add 10 percent more, I think that would make the difference, collectively." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle

Need to know

McDavid was held off the score sheet for the third time in eight games this postseason. … The Ducks had not lost two straight in regulation since the first two games of the season. They finished the regular season on an 11-0-3 run, then swept the Calgary Flames out of the first round before the back-to-back losses against the Oilers. ... Gibson made 21 saves. … Ritchie was a scratch with flu-like symptoms. Boll took Ritchie's place in the lineup, playing his first game of the 2017 playoffs. … The Ducks also brought defenseman Korbinian Holzer into the lineup to replace Kevin Bieksa, who will be out until late in the series with a lower-body injury, Carlyle said.

What's next

Game 3 of Western Conference Second Round at Rogers Place on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVA Sports)