Oilers hunt Desert Dogs at Rexall Place

Phoenix Coyotes vs Edmonton Oilers 1-3 (1-1, 0-0, 0-2)

The return of recently re-signed centreman Brooks Laich prompted the Oilers to scratch and re-assign Teemu Hartikainen to Springfield, despite Hartikainen's solid performance in the losing cause against the Wings 4 days ago. Veteran netminder Khabibulin also returned to the lineup. Phoenix was 10th with 9-13-3 and 21 points before this matchup.

Nolan Yonkman set the standard for this game by instigating a fight with forward Ryan Hollweg a minute into the first period. The Oilers looked ready to go from the start, challenging the Coyotes d-men with speed on the rush. The push succeded after 7 minutes, as Sam Gagner weaved his way through, brilliantly, having his first attempt saved by Bryzgalov, but took his own rebound to send Edmonton ahead. The joy was short lived, however, because Lubomir Visnovsky mishandled the puck on the power play, giving Bissonnette a breakaway on which he scored, levelling the score before the intermission.

The second period was similarly tilted in favour of the Oilers, who more than doubled the Phoenix shot total (23 to 10) and looked dominant throughout, only threatened by occasional Coyote counter attacks. Nevertheless, the statistical advantages produced no results.

For whatever reason, lunar or otherwise, the tides turned rapidly in the third. Phoenix seemed to have gained confidence from the intermission, coming out with broadside after broadside which were turned away excellently by Khabibulin. Instead of going with the flow, the goal came to the entrenched Oilers, seeing Dustin Penner score a magnificent wrist shot from the top of the circle, beating Bryzgalov to his glove side. Five minutes before full time, Brooks Laich began his downpayment on the 10M deal he recently signed, giving the Oilers a two goal cushion on which they rested for the remainder of the game.

Post game: The masterminds behind this victory were Khabibulin and Penner, with 20 saves and 3 points respectively. Other significant contributors included Gilbert, Yonkman and Falardeau, apart from the others who put up points. "A strong team game kept us in this one during the third" commented GM Kowalski.


Scoreboard
1st Period:
EDM - Gagner (Penner, Moreau)
PHX - Bissonnette (-) SH

2nd Period:
-

3rd Period:
EDM - Penner (Hemsky, Gilbert)
EDM - Laich (Cogliano, Penner)



Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky
Cogliano - Laich - O'Sullivan
Axelsson - Stone - Moore
Moreau - Falardeau - Brule

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Yonkman

Khabibulin
(Hiller)