Article content It’s not the Forum, but the Bell Centre in Montreal is still a cathedral of hockey. But instead of beautiful choir music, the Edmonton Oilers came across more like drunken karaoke singers in Monday’s ill-fated visit. They didn’t have a prayer.
In what was supposed to be a rebound game against the 30th place team in the NHL after Saturday’s embarrassing meltdown in Toronto, the Oilers were out of tune all night long in an even more embarrassing 3-0 loss. Once again it was the usual suspects biting Edmonton in the backside. A costly turnover to make it 1-0.
A soft goal to make it 2-0 and then an empty netter to add insult to injury as the Oilers fell to 9-8-2 on the season. Edmonton’s pop gun offence wore a path around the outside of Montreal’s zone, but rarely ventured into the hard areas in search of something greasy. This was a game between the 20th and 21st ranked offences in the NHL, so it’s no surprise things were scoreless through 39 minutes, but at least the Oilers were hanging in.
Despite not having Darnell Nurse in the lineup as he recovers from concussion symptoms after the head shot from Ryan Reaves on Saturday, the Oilers held the hosts to 10 shots with a minute and change to play in the second frame. Then..
. BOO-CHARD Evan Bouchard completed the hat-trick on Monday. After serving up two back-breaking goals to the Maple Leafs last game, one on a D-zone turnover and the other when he quit on the back check, he got Montreal on the board .