Oilers training camp starts

Edmonton Oilers News (September 15th 2010) "Fitness tests and scrimmages underway"

According to reports, Andrew Cogliano and Patrick O'Sullivan were most impressive in early fitness drills. No players were significantly lacking in any of the drills, yet youngsters like Toni Rajala, Joonas Donskoi, Austin Watson and Jeff Petry were a bit behind the rest in terms of endurance and strength.

In the first of two scrimmages, TEAM BLUE edged out TEAM RED by a score of 5-4. Dustin Penner potted a hat-trick for BLUE, while Aleksandr Bumagin equalled Penner with three goals for RED. Other notably positive players were Cogliano, Brule for BLUE (both with 3 points) and Moreau for RED (also 3 points). Neither goaltender, Deslauriers nor Roy, did particularly well, however, maybe due to underperformances on their respective defenses part.

In the second scrimmage, TEAM GREEN lost 3-7 to TEAM WHITE. Despite his average speed, endurance and strength, Toni Rajala led the way for WHITE, scoring 2+2 for 4 points. With goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin out, GREEN struggled to keep the puck out, despite Jon Merrill and Cam Fowler's best efforts. The best player for GREEN was Austin Watson, who netted a goal and two assists.



Edmonton Oilers vs Tampa Bay Lightning 2-3 (1-0, 0-1, 1-2)

After taking a few initial penalties, all of which were killed off, the Oilers gained some momentum from a couple of quality shifts from the 2nd and 3rd lines. The scoring was opened by Swede Linus Omark who pounced on a rebound from a Brooks Laich slapshot. An evenly contested first period ended with the Oilers up by one.

A period were chances were largely limited to power plays, the Bolts struck back when Brandon Bochenski received a well-timed pass from Vinny Lecavalier in the slot, wristing the puck high to Deslauriers' blocker side. The Oilers were outshooting their oppoents heavily at this point, 25-16.

Just after the third got underway, a mistimed pass from Alex Plante gave Lecavalier a breakaway on which he scored quite easily. A game that had proven defensive in nature during two periods began to open up. Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson scored a fine goal after being served a cross-crease pass from Hemsky on a two-on-one. Alas, ten seconds later, the Bolts again went up by one, Stephane Veilleaux managed to get one by Deslauriers after a scramble in front of the net. Even though both teams produced good chances in the last ten minutes, both Deslauriers and Kari Ramö did well to keep the score close. Game ended, 3-2 Bolts.



Scoreboard
1st Period:
EDM - L. Omark (Laich, Fowler) PP

2nd Period:
TBL - Bochenski (Lecavalier, Schremp)

3rd Period:
TBL - Lecavalier (-)
EDM - Pääjärvi-Svensson (Hemsky)
TBL - Veilleaux (Panik, Öhlund)


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
M. Pääjärvi-Svensson - O'Sullivan - Hemsky
Omark - Laich - Skille
Watson - O'Quinn - Moore
Axelsson - Falardeau - Bumagin

Fowler - Petry
Babchuk - Visnovsky
Peckham - Plante

Deslauriers
(Hiller)