Oilers hunt Thrashers at Rexall Place

Atlanta Thrashers vs Edmonton Oilers 3-1 (0-0, 2-0, 1-1)

Following Edmonton's roster moves yesterday, forwards Brule and O'Marra was injected into the lineup in place of Axelsson and Stone, the latter of whom was a healthy scratch - seeing as he's waiver eligible. The Thrashers were doing quite well for themselves coming into this one, sitting 4th in the Eastern Conference with 23-17-2.

From the get go, the Thrashers allowed Edmonton to play on the inside, giving the hosts a humber of good shooting positions in the slot, but none that went in during the first twenty minutes. Instead, the Oilers were fortunate to be let off the hook as Little missed an open net after receiving a brilliant pass from Kane.

There was certainly no auto-aim in the start of the second period either, or if it was, no one considered it a cheat. Both teams missed shots wide, high, and straight into the crest of the goalies. Swedish blueliner Tobias Enström finally broke the deadlock mid-way through the second period with a soft point shot that slipped through the Bulin Wall and into the net. The second goal, however, was not as weak. Ilya Kovalchuk blasted home the puck with such a velocity that it clearly ripped a hole in the spacetime continuum - retroactively shattering Albert Einstein's eardrums and cerebellum in the process.

The smoke from Kovalchuk's bomb settled, but the Oilers found themselves in a shroud yet again when Jim Slater finished off a gritty play to secure a firm Atlanta lead. Edmonton finally got on the board just 3 minutes from full time, through a classic 'accurate muffin' from Tom Gilbert on the power play.

Post game: "We were beat by two guys" stated head coach Kevin Constantine, and elaborated "Kovalchuk and Hedberg". The two polar opposites, star sniper and perennial backup, had fantastic games, which Edmonton could not circumvent. The two additions to the lineup made little impact.

Scoreboard
1st Period:
-

2nd Period:
ATL - Enström (Armstrong, Little)
ATL - Kovalchuk (Antropov, Hainsey) PP

3rd Period:
ATL - Slater (White, Afinogenov)
EDM - Gilbert (Penner, Moore) PP


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky
Cogliano - Laich - O'Sullivan
Moore - Krysanov - Brule
Moreau - Falardeau - O'Marra

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Yonkman

Khabibulin
(Hiller)