Oilers play Blues in St. Louis

Edmonton Oilers vs St. Louis Blues 4-1 (1-0, 3-1, 0-0)

Edmonton was forced to change their lineup for today's game as captain Ethan Moreau picked up a leg contusion that kept him out of this game. Defenseman Ladislav Smid took the place on the 4th line, while recent healthy scratch Matt Lashoff drew in on defense. In addition, Nikolai Khabibulin got the start. The Blues were last in the Western Conference with a 4-9-1 record, while the Oilers were 7th at 9-5-0.

Sallust once said "Every man is the architect of his own fortune". The Oilers were slowly constructing a firm structure of themselves and their fortunes looked bright in the first. Even though they failed to convert on a 1:30 long 5 on 3 power play, Ales Hemsky opened the scoring after 12 minutes, making a thrilling highlight goal out of nowhere.

It would be a stretch to call Edmonton's power play a fearsome threat, but they did manage to put up a goal on their 6th chance of the game. Brooks Laich deflected home a shot from Visnovsky. The goal was followed immediately by another, this time O'Sullivan was the scorer, deking past Brewer and going in alone on Mason, beating him over his left pad. The Blues had been absolutely woeful this far, but drew within two when Kyle Calder fed Alex Steen in front, Steen slipped in a rather soft shot behind Khabibulin. The group of away fans that had travelled to St. Louis were happy to see an immediate response from Edmonton, courtesy of another PP goal, this time signed Ales Hemsky.

The Oilers simply kept the Blues at bay in the third, not committing much offensively, though Hemsky had two breakaways which he missed. Nolan Yonkman received the game misconduct for fighting late on.

Post game: "I would not claim that our power play has cleared its teething problems, but we have been able to overcome that by being disciplined and not giving up nearly as many penalties as our opponents" commented GM Kowalski after the game. The top line continually exploited gaps in the Blues defense, blazed past them in the neutral zone or simply outbattled them along the boards, resulting in a total of 7 points between them. Khabibulin had a stellar night in which he saved 31 shots.



Scoreboard
1st Period:
EDM - Hemsky (Gagner, O'Sullivan)

2nd Period:
EDM - Laich (Visnovsky, Moore) PP
EDM - O'Sullivan (Hemsky, Brule)
STL - Steen (Calder, Boyes)
EDM - Hemsky (O'Sullivan, Visnovsky) PP

3rd Period:
-


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
Nolan Yonkman (Game Misconduct)

Lines:
O'Sullivan - Gagner - Hemsky
Cogliano - Laich - Brule
Axelsson - Stone - Moore
Smid - Falardeau - O'Marra

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Lashoff - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Yonkman

Khabibulin
(Hiller)