As the Edmonton Oilers approach the final leg of their resurgent 2016-17 campaign, netminder Cam Talbot continues to cement his place among the best to ever suit up in the team's crease.

The 29-year-old's second season as a full-fledged starter has gone exceptionally well, as Talbot is the only Oiler who could make a case for having played a bigger role in the Oilers' ascent than young captain Connor McDavid.

With just 120 games in Edmonton colors under his belt, Talbot is already tied for the third-most shutouts in Oilers goaltending history, his nine clean sheets tying him with Grant Fuhr in this regard.

The former New York Rangers backup's 36 wins this season are also tied for the second-most ever posted by an Oilers goaltender in one campaign, with Tommy Salo the last to reach that mark, back in 2000-01.

Talbot's ranking among this season's crop of netminders is no less impressive. He sits second in wins, tied for sixth in save percentage (.921), ninth in goals-against average (2.35), and is tied for the third-most shutouts in the league with six this season.

That top-10 positioning easily confirms Talbot as the No.1 option Edmonton was long searching for. But it also bolsters his case as one of the best bargains in the game, at any position.

Talbot's performance may have launched him into the upper echelon of professional goaltenders, but his paycheque has yet to catch up. He carries a cap hit of just $4.17 million per season, with 22 other NHL netminders earning more than him annually.

Looking at the rest of the field, it's clear Edmonton is getting plenty of bang for its buck in net - a crucially important point, as the club is going to have to spend heartily over the next two summers with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl set to outlast their entry-level contracts.

Talbot's former partner in net, Henrik Lundqvist, leads the pack in terms of goaltender pay, doubling his former backup with an $8.5-million cap hit. Three other 'tenders hold annual cap hits over $7 million, while five top the $6-million mark and nine sit above $5 million.

And yet, only a handful from that group have better numbers than Talbot heading into the home stretch of 2016-17.

Edmonton has two more years of Talbot punching in at only $4.17 million per season, and considering his performance thus far and his current trajectory, it's fair to assume that bargain-bin value will only continue to climb.

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Through the remainder of the regular season, we'll take a look at how the night's action impacts the playoff race, highlighting which teams' postseason odds went up or down significantly.

The Washington Capitals became the first team to earn a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with their win Saturday, and in the process dealt an enormous blow to a potentially dangerous opening-round opponent in the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Tampa's second consecutive loss in regulation has seen its postseason odds cut in half over the space of 48 hours. Though it could have been much worse, as the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders only managed one point apiece in their games.

Here's a look at the rest of the postseason picture after Saturday's action:

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

To see percentages for the entire NHL, visit Sports Club Stats.

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A couple of milestones for a pair of lifelong Anaheim Ducks.

With an assist on Patrick Eaves' first-period goal Saturday, captain Ryan Getzlaf recorded the 800th point of his NHL career.

Only one other man has hit that milestone as a Duck: Teemu Selanne. That's the company you want to keep, kids.

Andrew Cogliano, meanwhile, played in his 776th straight game Saturday, tying Craig Ramsay for the fourth-longest ironman streak in NHL history.

The 29-year-old, drafted in 2005 by the Edmonton Oilers, has remarkably played in every game since he broke into the league in 2007.

The Ducks beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 on Saturday, with Jonathan Bernier again turning in a strong performance. He made 33 saves, as Anaheim moved within four points of first-place San Jose.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. - Jake Allen stopped 31 shots for his fourth shutout of the season to lead the playoff-contending St. Louis Blues to a 3-0 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.

Scottie Upshall, Alex Pietrangelo and David Perron scored to help the Blues win for the seventh time in eight games overall and beat the Coyotes for the ninth straight time. It was St. Louis' fifth shutout since Feb. 2.

Allen improved to 6-0-0 in his career against the Coyotes and earned his 15th career shutout. He stopped Teemu Pulkkinnen's breakaway shot at 12:23 of the second period to keep the Coyotes scoreless.

The Coyotes failed to earn a point from a game for the first time since a March 5 loss to Carolina. Mike Smith stopped 37 shots.

Upshall extended the Blues' lead to 2-0 at 2:52 of the second period. He took the puck from behind the net back up the ice, turned around and shot the puck into traffic and past Smith for his ninth of the season.

Smith's saves included a fairly easy one when the Blues' Vladimir Tarasenko was awarded a penalty shot with 45.6 seconds left in the second. But Tarasenko held the puck for too long and didn't shoot until he was almost behind the net.

Perron scored a short-handed empty-net goal with 1:03 to play in the game.

The Coyotes played without captain Shane Doan for the first time this season. Doan missed some time early in Thursday's game to be checked for a concussion after a collision with a teammate during pregame warmups, but returned to the ice and played. He was listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury.

Doan, 40, is the all-time franchise leader in games played, goals, assists and points, and had played in all 70 games this season. He remains on pace to play the most amount of games he has since the 2009-2010 season, when he appeared in all 82 games.

The Coyotes lost defenseman Anthony DeAngelo less than two minutes into the game when he was called for boarding and given a five-minute penalty and a game misconduct. DeAngelo checked the Blues' Zach Sanford into the boards face-first.

Sanford went to the locker room and missed the rest of the first period, but returned in the second.

The Coyotes were three seconds away from killing DeAngelo's penalty when Pietrangelo fired a long-range shot that eluded Smith for the game's first goal. Paul Stastny provided the pass that set up Pietrangelo's 10th of the season.

NOTES: The Coyotes held a pregame ceremony to honor veteran C Radim Vrbata, who recently played in his 1,000th career game. Vrbata's gifts for his achievement included a silver stick, a painting and a pair of tickets to the 2018 Wimbledon final. ... C Jori Lehtera (upper body injury) and F Dmitrij Jaskin (upper body) were scratched for the Blues, along with healthy scratches Jordan Schmaltz and Nail Yakupov.

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John Hayden had himself a week.

The 22-year-old signed a two-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks last Sunday, and scored his first NHL goal Saturday in Toronto, in only his second career game.

And it was pretty, too. The Yale product showed off his offensive skill, using his skate to take a pass from Jonathan Toews before wasting no time going upstairs on Frederik Andersen.

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The Vancouver Canucks kept the Edmonton Oilers off the scoresheet for nearly two periods Saturday, but Connor McDavid wasn't going to let it go on any longer.

The Oilers captain took a feed from Andrej Sekera, cut across the middle and whipped one past Canucks goaltender Richard Bachman for his 25th goal of the season.

It was also McDavid's 80th point, which moved him past Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand and back into top spot in the NHL in the Art Ross Trophy race.

The goal held up as the winner, the Oilers taking a 2-0 decision.

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500 games and 179 goals for Logan Couture.

The San Jose Sharks forward skated in his 500th career game Saturday, taking the opportunity to net his 25th goal this season, and 179th of his career.

Late in the first period against the Anaheim Ducks, Couture accepted a feed from Joe Thornton before flinging the puck behind netminder Jonathan Bernier.

The goal extended Couture's point streak to four games, where he's tallied two goals and four assists.

(Video courtesy: NHL.com)

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The "loser point" doesn't have a huge fan club, but Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock was proud of his team for securing one by making it to overtime in a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.

"That's a huge point for us (tonight), an absolutely huge point," Babcock told reporters following the 2-1 defeat, according to TSN's Mark Masters.

"Every day you talk about how big the game is, but that's what we're going to do right to the end, obviously," Babcock added.

Auston Matthews ended his seven-game point drought when he opened the scoring in the first period, but John Hayden potted his first career marker in the second and Ryan Hartman tallied the winner for the Western Conference-leading Blackhawks with 17 seconds left in overtime.

Despite the loss, the Leafs restored their one-point lead over the New York Islanders for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot. The Islanders earned a point of their own earlier Saturday in an overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Toronto has a game in hand on both New York and the Tampa Bay Lightning, who fell 5-3 to the Washington Capitals on Saturday night and now sit two points behind the Leafs.

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