Oilers travel to Arizona to fight Coyotes

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

The Oilers came into this came with a decent 5-3-0 record, their opponents standing at 3-5-0. Edmonton started summer acquisition Jonas Hiller for his second game of the season, while Ladislav Smid drew in for Matt Lashoff on defense, leaving Lashoff as a healthy scratch for the game.

The Coyotes came out with a massive barrage of shots during the first ten minutes of the first, shelling Hiller who did well to fend off a number of quality chances. And, in strict accordance with this season's tradition, the Oilers conceded the first goal of the game - former Calgary Flame Matt Lombardi scorched the twine on the power play - at which point the Oilers had produced sweet nothing themselves. At the first intermission the Oilers were lucky to be just one down, and having drawn a double minor from Doan to start the second on a 4 minute power play.

Edmonton was kept almost entirely to the outside on their extended power play starting the period, and was duly punished for their incapabilities when former Oiler Mike Comrie showed them how it's done by taking the puck to the net and scoring a gritty goal on a Phoenix man advantage. The visitors bounced back into life, however, as Ethan Moreau took a sheet from the Coyote playbook and ripped home the 1-2 goal. The period continued with Phoenix insisting to gift Edmonton power plays (4 in a matter of 11 minutes) and the Oilers kept throwing them away, though they were clearly running away on the shot charts.

The third period just reaffirmed the second, Edmonton kept banging their heads against the brick wall, while Phoenix kept erecting walls for them. A total of 8 power plays went unfruitful, and adding insult to penalty killing supremacy, the Coyotes added a late 3-1 goal to seal the deal.

Post game: "I am appalled by our failure on special teams" said a rather annoyed head coach Constantine of the game, the Oilers went 0/8 on the PP, while allowing 2 goals on 3 Phoenix man advantages. Bryzgalov's 36 saves earned him first star, and while the Oilers played fairly well as individuals, they failed miserably as a team.

Scoreboard
1st Period:
PHX - Lombardi (Jovanovski, Doan) PP

2nd Period:
PHX - Comrie (Sopel, Lombardi) PP
EDM - Moreau (Moore, Visnovsky)

3rd Period:
PHX - Sopel (Lombardi)


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

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

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Yonkman

Hiller
(Khabibulin)