After allowing six goals, Kings goaltender Cam Talbot knows how to keep a short memory

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Cam Talbot was once a hero here, but how soon they forget, eh?

He was pretty much on his own island as the Oilers teed up high-danger chances, and he gave up six before pulled for an extra attacker late in the third. It was such a tough ride, there was one shift where Brett Kulak’s shot sailed high, hit the netting in the end and the puck pin-balled back and hit Talbot on his shoulder and the puck fell into the net.

Talbot certainly knew the crowd would be on him.

“I expected that coming in here. I’ve been on the other side in this building. All you can do is tune them out and go about your business…if you’re wearing a different sweater, you’re obviously the enemy. I’d expect nothing less, these are passionate fans here. That’s why this building is so much fun in the playoffs,” said Talbot, who even had a fight with the Oilers’ Mike Smith at the Saddledome.

But, again, this was home for Talbot for a long time (227 total games), where he became an NHL starter. Edmonton is uppermost in the patchwork of his career, now 36 years old.

“Edmonton will always have a special place in my heart. My kids were born here. We started our family here, I had the best years of my career here,” he said. “I always look back at my time here fondly. That being said, I’m in L.A. now and my job is to help this team win games as much as I treasure my time in Edmonton.”

Giving up six goals in Game 1 is there on the stats sheet, but not in his mind.

“You have to stay even-keel…it’s easy after a game like that to get a little low. Have to let that one pretty quickly or it can snowball,” said Talbot, who played 13 Oilers playoff games in 2017 including the infamous Anaheim rally Game 5 rally, when the Ducks charged back from 3-0 down late, including the controversial goal when Ryan Kesler’s skate wedged Talbot’s pad aside in a scramble and he couldn’t make a save, with current Oilers Corey Perry winning it in double OT for the Ducks.

You remember that, he’s asked?

“Uh, huh,” he said.

Why does it keep coming around like this (Perry now an Oiler, playing against Edmonton as a member of the Kings)?

“Hockey Gods, I guess. My journey’s taken me to a lot of places so far. Every single one has been new memories,” he said.

No harm but foul

Vincent Desharnais escaped a knee injury when Kings winger Trevor Moore low-bridged him late in the second period. Moore got a tripping penalty and after the Player Safety folks looked at the video, they decided there would be no fine or supplemental discipline.

“Obviously it didn’t feel good. I got lucky, could have been a lot worse, with damage. More scary than harmful,” said the Oilers defenceman, who lay on the ice for several seconds before getting to his feet and hobbling to the bench. He was back in the third, playing a regular shift.

Friends and foes

Perry and Doughty are actual buddies from London who’ve been at each other Stanley Cup celebrations and have been on two Canadian Olympic teams together, but once the puck’s dropped, polite conversation.

Related

• Edmonton Oilers know better than anyone how fragile a 1-0 lead can be
• Edmonton Oilers send Kings a loud and clear message in Game 1

No hugs. Maybe we’ll see some wrestling and face-washes though.

“I’d say we’re friends,” said Perry, who dressed for his 197th career playoff game Monday night while Doughty was playing No. 91. “He’s a heckuva competitor, a great player. He plays half the game, pretty much every night. He’s a warrior. He won’t give in. I don’t think there’s any secrets in how we each play. We’ve had our battles. That’s the fun part of the game.”

McDavid who was matched more often against Matt Roy and Vladislav Gavrikov than Doughty and Mikey Anderson in Game 1 (a surprising switch), is a big Doughty fan.

“He’s one of the best shutdown D-men in the world and has been for a long time,” said McDavid. “He’s hard on you every single night. It’s a challenge. I love going against him. It’s great to test yourselves against players like him.”

Doughty was booed constantly, a sign of mutual respect by the fans here.

Also hit incessantly. Again, respect from the Oilers players.

Long and winding roads

For the last two Oilers-Kings playoffs we had the Jay Woodcroft-Todd McLellan coaching sidebar to chew on with Woodcroft being mentored by McLellan as his assistant in Edmonton and in San Jose, but now both coaches are on the sidelines after being fired. Woodcroft was let go Nov. 12 and McLellan Feb. 2 in LA. Now we’ve got the WHL junior angle with Oilers’ Kris Knoblauch in Kootenay and Kings’ Jim Hiller in Tri-City coaching against each other about 15 years ago.

“It’s a long way from Tri-City and Cranbook riding the buses,” said Hiller, McLellan’s former assistant and interim head man in L.A. while Knoblauch got a long-term deal here..

“It’s always nice to see somebody along the way who grinded it out. Kris has spent a lot of time coaching (Kootenay, Erie Otters, Hartford in AHL) and now he’s got his opportunity. You always like to see people from your area succeed, whether that’s coaches, linesmen, referees, people you travelled with and yelled at, now up in the NHL.”

Ever holler at Knoblauch?

“No, Kris isn’t the type of guy you have to yell at too often as everybody here realizes,” said Hiller.

This ‘n that

• Zach Hyman was in a fair bit of discomfort after a hit in the third period but he came back later. “It was the funny bone. You know how that it is,” said Hyman.
• Overlooked in McDavid’s five-assist night in Game 1 was a fantastic game by Leon Draisaitl, who was 16-8 on face-offs, winning repeatedly on the draw on the power play, which struck three times.
• The Oilers recalled Philip Broberg Monday from Bakersfield as an eighth defenceman and he was still here for the short skate Tuesday. Undecided whether he’ll return to the farm to kick off the AHL playoffs Wednesday against Ontario Reign. The Oilers and Kings AHL affiliates are squaring off in a best-of-three first round, rare stuff. Somebody on the D might be nicked up, ergo the Broberg sighting but no medical information leaking out.
• Ryan Fanti, the Oilers ECHL starter, was called up to be a No. 3 for this series in case of injury. He’s available to practise too.