NHL Game Preview - Winnipeg at Edmonton

Mon Oct 9, 2017 9:00 PM EDT

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Last season, the Winnipeg Jets surrendered 255 goals, the fourth-worst total in the NHL.

The team used four goaltenders, and none of them appeared in the league's top 50 when it came to save percentage.

Goaltending was the team's No. 1 issue last season.

And, early in the 2017-18 season, it's still an issue. Former Philadelphia Flyer Steve Mason has posted a poor .831 save percentage and a whopping 6.56 goals against average in his first two starts as a Jet, and back-up Connor Hellebuyck has an .818 save percentage in mop-up duties.

Sure, it is only two games into the season. But all eyes will be on the 0-2-0 Jets' crease when they visit reigning NHL most valuable player Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers (1-1-0) Monday at Rogers Place.

It's Canadian Thanksgiving, and the Jets can't afford to have another turkey of a game.

And the Jets have shown that they go into funks. In Saturday's 6-3 loss to Calgary, they gave up four goals in the second period. In a 7-2 home-opener loss to Toronto, the Jets gave up three goals in less than three minutes late in the first period.

"Until we figure out as a group that as momentum changes ... it's going to change throughout every game," Jets defenseman Tyler Myers said. "It's going to sway back and forth. If they get a little bit of momentum, we can't deviate from what makes us win hockey games."

And, after the loss to the Flames, coach Paul Maurice wasn't about to lay the blame on his goaltenders. He said the whole Jets team needs to look at its defensive effort.

"The things that give you success really never change -- move your feet or move the puck," Maurice said. "If you don't have it, you're going to have to hit somebody and have to block some shots, keep the game real simple and understand that in every game there's a change in momentum. The other team's going to have a piece of that game and that can't be the end of yours."

Oilers goalie Cam Talbot will also be looking to rebound. After recording a shutout in the team's home-opening win over Calgary, he allowed three goals on seven shots in Vancouver Saturday before getting the hook from coach Todd McLellan.

"You look at some of those goals last night, I don't know what I would have done too much differently," Talbot said. "It was a few bad bounces, and I'm not going to overhaul my game because of that."

The Oilers will welcome back left winger Anton Slepyshev into the lineup. Slepyshev, who emerged in the playoffs with three goals over two rounds, missed the bulk of training camp with an ankle injury, and then a prolonged illness. He spent the first week of the season on a conditioning stint with the Oilers' AHL affiliate in Bakersfield, Calif. McLellan said he expects Slepyshev to make his Edmonton season debut on Monday.

"The ankle was OK," Slepyshev said. "I still need to work on that. But, on the ice, it feels OK."

McLellan said, "We always look to make changes, even when we play the game that we like. We're looking for combinations that are really, really productive on both sides of the puck. We obviously didn't have that in game two, but we had it in game one. For me, that's a little bit of the germ we're trying to cure within our team."