EDMONTON, AB – The Edmonton Oilers nearly doubled the New Jersey Devils in shots on Monday night, but the Blue & Orange couldn’t solve goaltender Jake Allen on Monday night in a 3-0 shutout defeat at Rogers Place that drops their overall record to 6-6-1 this season.

New Jersey was efficient with their scoring against Edmonton by tallying goals from Stefan Noesen, Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier in the first, second and third periods, respectively, to solve netminder Calvin Pickard’s three times on 16 shots.

Allen was steady over the full 60 minutes in the Devils’ crease, stopping all 31 shots he faced from the Oilers to pick up his second shutout this season.

Monday’s defeat for Blue & Orange was their second this season by way of the shutout – and second on home ice –after failing to score against the Winnipeg Jets back on Opening Night of the 2024-25 NHL season.

The Oilers will have a chance to respond on Wednesday night in a Pacific Division battle at Rogers Place against the Vegas Golden Knights.

FIRST PERIOD

Despite another solid opening few minutes on Monday, the Oilers couldn’t give themselves the early lead for the third straight game and instead trailed after giving up the opening goal on the Devils’ first attempt on net.

Edmonton outshot New Jersey 5-0 in the first five minutes and hit a crossbar early when Adam Henrique had a chance similar to Leon Draisaitl’s opening goal in Calgary last night, finding himself wide open in front for a chance that had goaltender Jake Allen beaten before hit struck the crossbar and sailed out of play.

Henrique had picked up a point in three straight games (5G, 1A) against New Jersey coming into Monday’s match and recorded his first-and-only NHL hat against the Devils back on Dec. 17, 2023 as a member of the Anaheim Ducks.

When the Devils did get some extended offensive-zone time, forward Jesper Bratt was able to find Stefan Noesen as he entered the zone from a change to put a shot on goal that struck the left post and trickled over the line while Dougie Hamilton and Darnell Nurse battled to create a screen in front.

The Devils were looking a lot more dangerous with a 1-0 lead near the midway mark of the period when a shot from Hamilton took a slight deflection off Jeff Skinner on the way through to leave Calvin Pickard in an awkward position to defend Bratt’s follow-up rebound, but the Oilers goalie sprawled out to take away winger’s point-blank chance.

Wide-open opportunities were a theme for both sides in the opening period, with Edmonton and New Jersey feeling like it could’ve been a 3-3 score through 20 minutes despite the Devils holding onto a slender one-goal advantage at the intermission

After Henrique had another near-open look at New Jersey’s goal that went unconverted, it was ultimately Jack Hughes who would deny the Devils a two-goal lead.

The elite American centre made an unintentional save on Bratt’s wide-open shot from outside the crease when he was guided into the blue paint by Darnell Nurse, leading to his linemate’s effort going off the shaft of his stick and staying out before Hughes hunched back in disbelief.

SECOND PERIOD

Another open chance for the Oilers, this time from Vasily Podkolzin, went unanswered 6:40 into the middle frame after Leon Draisaitl’s perfect pass to the Podkolzin in front caught Jake Allen over-extended in his crease, but the Russian’s one-touch shot went through the blue paint and past the near post.

Podkolzin came into tonight’s game riding a two-game point streak with two assists on the top line with Leon Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson, but he’s still chasing his first goal as an Oiler – and it hasn’t been from a lack of chances for the Russian.

The Oilers had an odd-man rush before the seven-minute mark between Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman, where No. 18 went hard to the far post to accept his linemate’s back-door pass, but he couldn’t get all of it before crashing into the New Jersey net with no goal to show for it.

New Jersey would double their lead on their first power play before the intermission, setting up Bratt in the slot to sneak a low shot through Pickard’s five-hole that just barely found its way into the back of Edmonton’s net for the 2-0 lead.

The Blue & Orange had 23 shots through two periods on Monday, but were trailing after 40 minutes after giving up two goals on 13 shots to the Devils.

THIRD PERIOD

Calvin Pickard made a point-blank save on Timo Meier during a fast break close to nine minutes into the final frame, but the winger ultimately collected New Jersey’s third goal at the end of the very same shift.

When the Devils came back up ice on their next rush, the puck fell to Dawson Mercer in the neutral zone off a broken play, who flicked it high into the air and over Edmonton’s defence to allow Meier to puck up the puck with speed before sliding it around Pickard to make up for his earlier miss.

The Oilers pulled their goalie with more than three minutes left in regulation, but neither the Oilers nor the Devils could find another goal as time ran out on Edmonton’s chances to stage a late comeback.