Oilers visited by Ducks

Anaheim Ducks vs Edmonton Oilers 3-1 (2-0, 1-1, 0-0)

The Oilers made no changes from the dominant win against the Sharks last game. The Ducks were flying before this game, holding second place in the Conference with 24-13-2 for 50 points.

Like something out of a Hitchcock movie, the Ducks swarmed the Oilers from the opening face off - keeping the home team pinned in their zone for most of the period. Power forward Bobby Ryan was the first to capitalize on the power play. Having demanded much attention from defensemen already, he added a great assist on the next Ducks tally, dishing a pass to Getzlaf who made it 2-0. The Oilers were curiously absent offensively.

The game evened out more in the second, although the Oilers saw most of the puck throughout the middle 20, they did not manage to consistently break into the Ducks' zone. It took an extended power play to finally strike back, with Dustin Penner charging into the crease and battling in a goal. The game looked to be changing in the Oilers' favour at that point, but a very late goal by Koivu kept the Oilers at arms length before the final period.

Anaheim retreated to the hills to defend in the third, and it worked well. Edmonton kept shelling Giguere, but found no good chances through which they could score.

Post game: "We were denied by a good defense, basically" summarized GM Kowalski, adding "It was not a poor game in itself, but we lacked some game breaking pushes in the second and third, a burst of speed, a moment of extra flair, a good shot through a screen."


Scoreboard
1st Period:
ANA - Ryan (Kozlov, Getzlaf) PP
ANA - Getzlaf (Ryan, Whitney) PP

2nd Period:
EDM - Penner (Moore, Krysanov) PP
ANA - Koivu (Kozlov, Vishnevski)

3rd Period:
-


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

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

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Yonkman

Hiller
(Khabibulin)