The Ultimate Fighting Championship came and went on the weekend, but Rogers Place was shaping up to get another fight fix Monday, with a bout between the NHL’s top heavyweights with the most fighting majors on the season.
The Edmonton Oilers, with seven fights, duked it out against the New Jersey Devils, who led the way with eight. But in the end, it was the visitors coming out ahead on the scorecard, 3-0.
For the record, there was no fighting Monday.
Instead of letting their fists do the talking, the two opponents took their frustrations out on each other by firing a flurry of Grade-A scoring punches at each other, and a fistful of counterpunches that probably should have gone in.
In the orange-and-blue corner, Oilers backup goalie Calvin Pickard stopped 13 shots. And in the red-and-black corner, Devils netminder Jake Allen stopped all 31.
The Oilers were without their undisputed champion once again, with Connor McDavid remaining out with an ankle injury suffered one week earlier in a 6-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. But their captain skated with the team for the first time in Monday’s morning skate, and is expected to return to active duty in another week.
Much of the load has been shouldered by McDavid’s tag-team partner, Leon Draisaitl, who had three goals and six points in the two previous games.
But it was all swings and misses for him and the rest of the Oilers in this one, while the Devils delivered a one-two punch with a goal in each of the first and second periods, complements of Stefan Noesen and Jesper Bratt.
With the Oilers already down on the mat, Timo Meier added another in the third for good measure.
E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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