EDMONTON, Alberta -- Oilers defenseman Andrej Sekera scored the overtime winner on a rebound from his own scoring chance, giving Edmonton a 1-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night.

Sekera took a wrist shot on Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward, then streaked in to tuck the second chance between the netminder's pads.

Sekera said he thought the game might be tight-checking. He should know -- he played 131 career NHL games for the Hurricanes.

"They play a good north-south game. They're very good in all three (areas of the game) and we knew it was going to be a grind until the end and whoever would break first would lose," Sekera said. "Everybody would like a 5-0 game, especially at this time of year, but it's not going to happen. It's going to be a really tight race to the end."

Oilers goalie Cam Talbot made 29 saves for his first shutout as an Oiler.

Ward made 26 stops.

"The win is the most important thing, the shutout is just the bonus," Talbot said. "It means a lot to get another two points and build some momentum in our own rink like we were before."

"I thought Wardo was excellent," said Hurricanes coach Bill Peters of his netminder. "(On the goal) I think we had a little defensive breakdown, the way I look at it. Shot, rebound, the same guy who shot it followed his original shot, scored on the rebound. That's not exactly how you play that."

For three periods, the teams played to a scoreless stalemate. Scoring chances were few and far between.

The Oilers, already shut out five times this season, managed just 22 shots on goal through three periods. The Hurricanes -- previously shut out three times -- had 27, but they had the best two scoring chances in regulation.

However, Carolina couldn't capitalize on either of those golden chances. In the first period, center Eric Staal's shot pinged off the crossbar behind Talbot. In the second period, defenseman Justin Faulk streaked off the point, picked up the puck, deked, had Talbot at his mercy, and sent a backhand wide.

"When we were smart with the puck and made the right plays through the neutral zone, we played in their end," Staal said. "We carried the play down in their end a lot and created some real, real good opportunities that we didn't cash in. Talbot was real good."

The game also didn't pack a lot of physical punch. The Hurricanes took just two penalties, while the Oilers didn't take a penalty till late in the third period, when defenseman Brad Hunt went to box for a hook.

By staying out of the box for the majority of the game, the Oilers limited the threat of Faulk, who came into the game tied for the NHL lead in power-play goals with 12.

"We didn't get on the power play till the third, but I didn't think there was anything to call," Peters said. "We didn't attack the net with any vigor, so these are things we can correct to help ourselves."

The Oilers had six shots in first period, none of which would be considered a dangerous scoring chance, then took almost five minutes into the second period to get shot number seven.

They finished the second period with just 14 attempts on Ward.

Oilers coach Todd McLellan said that this game reminded him a lot of a 1-0 loss to Anaheim on New Year's Eve.

"We checked well, (it) probably wasn't the most enjoyable game to watch. It was a chess match, it was tight-checking both ways, there wasn't many opportunities and we're going to have games like that, not a lot different than the Anaheim game the other night, we just didn't get the one goal."

NOTES: The game was a rematch of the 2006 Stanley Cup final, which saw the Hurricanes beat the Oilers in seven games. In the decade since then, the Oilers have not qualified for the playoffs, while the Hurricanes have made the postseason just once. ... On Sunday, the Hurricanes recalled LW Brock McGinn from their AHL affiliate in Charlotte, N.C. ... The Oilers scratched D Mark Fayne, RW Iiro Pakarinen and LW Luke Gazdic. ... Carolina LW Phillip Di Giuseppe is out with an upper-body injury. The Hurricanes also scratched LW Chris Terry and D Michal Jordan.