pect around the world. That, he said, has improved.The American player is gen

EDMONTON, Alberta -- The Edmonton Oilers hope they are finally out of their funk.Leon Draisaitl scored twice and Cam Talbot made 31 saves for his third shutout of the season, helping Edmonton beat the Western Conference-leading Chicago Blackhawks 5-0 on Monday night.Theyve been playing some good hockey lately so its not an easy team to shut out by any means, Talbot said. We played a great team game. Thats a huge statement win for us tonight.Oscar Klefbom, Andrej Sekera and Anton Slepyshev also scored for the Oilers, who have won two straight since ending a five-game skid.Connor McDavid had two assists to move into the NHL scoring lead with 24 points in 20 games.Theyve been playing really well and for us to get a win like that is definitely big for the confidence moving forward, McDavid said. Weve been able to snap out of a bit of a funk and were looking to go on a run now. Once you get out of one of those, it is important you take off from there.The 19-year-old McDavid set up a goal 2:39 in by skating the length of the ice before centering the puck for Klefbom, who blasted a shot past Crawford.McDavid also assisted late in the first when Draisaitl tipped in Klefboms shot from the point on a power play for a 2-0 lead.Corey Crawford made 22 saves in the loss as the Blackhawks had a two-game winning streak snapped.That wasnt our team, it was a tough loss and we just have to forget about it and worry about the next game, Crawford said. I dont take anything away from this one. We created a few good chances, but it was one of those games where nothing was going right.Talbot kept Chicago from getting on the board four minutes into the second when he stopped Duncan Keith on a point-blank power-play shot.Sekera scored on a long wrist shot with just 7.6 seconds left in the second shortly after a power play expired to make it 3-0.Edmonton took a 4-0 lead seven minutes into the third period when Slepyshevs deceptive shot from a bad angle handcuffed Crawford.Draisaitl scored his second of the game late in the third on the power play to put the game away.Thats the closest weve come to a complete game, Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. Its a really good sign for our team going forward.Game notes It was the first of three games between the two teams this season. Chicago swept the season series last year, with McDavid missing all three contests for the Oilers due to injury. ... Despite their 13-5-2 record, the Blackhawks were last in the NHL on the penalty kill at just 69.5 percent coming into the game. ... Veterans Benoit Pouliot, Mark Letestu and Eric Gryba remained healthy scratches for the Oilers. ... The lone injury listed for Chicago is Trevor van Riemsdyk (upper body), while Edmonton is still without Iiro Pakarinen (knee), Brandon Davidson (upper body) and Mark Fayne (lower body).UP NEXTBlackhawks: Play the fifth in a season-high seven-game road trip in San Jose on Wednesday night.Oilers: Start a two-game trip at Colorado on Wednesday night.Custom Sabres Jersey China . Vaives lawyer Trevor Whiffen claims the former 50-goal man wasnt provided with a copy of the claim beforehand and that he would not have agreed to the allegations made against the NHL had he been asked to review its contents. Tim Horton Jersey Large . -- Five former Kansas City Chiefs players who were on the team between 1987 and 1993 filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the team hid and even lied about the risks of head injuries during that time period when there was no collective bargaining agreement in place in the NFL. http://www.customsabresjersey.com/ . NBA officials ruled the court unplayable in the Bucks final exhibition game on Oct. 25 because players were slipping, and the game was cancelled midway through the first period. Custom Sabres Jerseys . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. Wholesale Custom Sabres Shirts . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm.NEW YORK -- Bruce Arena knows the job of U.S. soccer coach has changed since his last game a decade ago.Were going to have a lot of pressure on us, he said Wednesday during an interview at the offices of The Associated Press. Were not only expected to qualify for the World Cup, were also expected to be successful in group play and to get into the round of 16 and then hopefully the quarterfinals.Arena took over from Jurgen Klinsmann last week following losses at home to Mexico and at Costa Rica in the opening two games of the final round of World Cup qualifying. The Americans plan a pair of exhibitions in January, and qualifying resumes at home against Honduras on March 24 followed by a match at Panama four days later.Theyve got to be convinced the way were going to play is the right way, and theyve got to be convinced to play for each other. The bottom line is we have to be a better team than weve been in the first two games of this competition. So the concept of team and putting that ahead of everything else is going to be critical, Arena said. I think youll see changes -- I think changes everywhere, not radical, but our mentality will be different, our approach will be different and, hopefully, the results will be different.Arena spoke before heading to Toronto for the second leg of a Major League Soccer conference semifinal against Montreal. He then goes to Europe to speak with German-based American players.Today with professional athletes, maybe a majority of the job is preparing them mentally to play, he said. We know they have the skills and the physical qualities to be successful. Weve just got to deal sometimes with the 6-to-8 inches between the ears to get them headed in the right direction.As Arena watched the 4-0 defeat at Costa Rica on Nov. 15 on television, he was alarmed.I thought they were in a difficult situation, and there would be some thinking about making a change, he recalled.Six days later, he was asked to take the job he held from 1998-2006.Arena led the U.S. to thee 2002 World Cup quarterfinals, then was fired four years later after a first-round elimination.ddddddddddddOur fan base is way ahead of what it was when I started in `98 and ended in 2006, he said. And now, with the obvious emergence of social media, its 24 hours a day. So were going to have a lot of pressure on us, and thats all part of it. Thats what we sign up for. So we look forward to the challenge.Because three of the six teams qualify from the hexagonal, as the final round of the North and Central American and Caribbean region is known, the U.S. can rebound quickly.We want from the opening whistle to be a team that gets after it and plays hard for 90 minutes, he said. The first camp will be difficult in March when we have the entire team together. But we have enough experience as coaches to understand the qualities of our players, how to organize and teach them and get them feeling comfortable by the time they kick off against Honduras.Arena has spent the past eight years coaching the LA Galaxy. During his first term with the U.S., he said American players didnt get sufficient respect around the world. That, he said, has improved.The American player is generally a good player. What we lack is the real elite player that some of the other countries have, he said. But we have a good, solid base of players, and Im confident they can play against anyone in the world.Arena is excited about the age of the current player pool. Aside from goalkeepers Tim Howard (37) and Brad Guzan (32), the only regulars older than 30 are defender Geoff Cameron (31), midfielder Jermaine Jones (35) and forward Clint Dempsey (33).Theres a lot of players entering their prime, which in our sport is about 28, 29 years old, Arena said. Were not too old and were not too young. So there shouldnt be any excuses. We have enough experience and enough quality to be successful in qualifying. ' ' '