Ty Rattie scored twice as the Edmonton Oilers improved to 2-0 in pre-season play with a 4-2 win in Vancouver on Tuesday night.
Jesse Puljujarvi opened the scoring with a shot through Anders Nilsson’s five-hole just past the nine-minute mark.
Cam Talbot earned the highlight of the night with just over six minutes left in the session. Nikolay Goldobin fired from close range at an open net, but Talbot stretched across the crease and snatched the puck off the goal line in mid-air.
Talbot said the save was pure desperation.
“Reach my glove out and just take away something,” he said.
“You don’t want to use those up in pre-season, but at the same time it’s a good confidence-booster moving forward.”
Rattie jammed in a power play goal early in the second to make it 2-0. Sven Baertschi replied shortly after with a nifty goal. With his back to the net, Baertschi shot the back between his legs and beat Talbot five-hole.
Talbot made 22 saves and was replaced by Al Montoya for the third.
Defenceman Caleb Jones converted a pass from Ryan Strome before the third was two minutes old to make it 3-1. Goldobin provided a quick reply on a power play to pull Vancouver back within a goal. With 6:50 left, Rattie stole the puck from Ben Hutton and beat Nilsson five-hole on a breakaway.
Rattie picked up five goals and four assists in 14 games last year alongside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid.
He said he wanted to show he could contribute on any line.
“Obviously everyone wants to play on that spot with Hopkins and McDavid, but at the same time I needed to prove that if I wasn’t in that spot I could be somewhere else in the lineup, so I felt good tonight.”
Montoya stopped 13 shots.
The Oilers will host Winnipeg on Thursday.
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