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Raleigh, N.C. — Todd McLellan refuses to go with the “win and you’re in” mantra with his goalies.

But “play well and lose” means he’s sticking with Anders Nilsson in net.

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Nilsson, who only played in three of the first dozen Edmonton Oilers games, will get his eighth start in the past 10 on Wednesday against the Carolina Hurricanes. He’ll likely go against Sherwood Park’s Cam Ward who broke the Oilers’ hearts 9 1/2 years ago in the Stanley Cup final.

Nilsson didn’t win the battle with Braden Holtby Monday in Washington, where the two goalies faced 63 shots and were only beaten once — by Capitals defenceman Dmitry Orlov late in the third period on a ripper that beat Nilsson.

“Perfect shot, right by his ear,” said McLellan.

However it went in, Nilsson seems to have won the No. 1 job, for now, with Cam Talbot reduced to cheerleading.

“Tremendous game in Washington,” said the Oilers’ coach McLellan.

“I’m seeing a lot of confidence from Nilly right now. With his size (six-foot-five), if he’s positioned well in the net, odds are the puck’s going to hit him somewhere and there hasn’t been a lot of garbage laying around. He’s smothered things.”