Oilers deny Avalanche once again

Colorado Avalanche vs Edmonton Oilers 1-4 (1-1, 0-1, 0-2)

Edmonton made no changes from the team that shut out the Avalanche last night, including keeping netminder Jonas Hiller in from the start. The Avs still had key centerman Paul Stastny out.

Quick winger Ales Hemsky put Edmonton ahead a mere minute into the first, blazing past Shultz and Bergeron to score on Budaj with a memorable deke. The Oilers continued to pressure the Avs, but gave up a number of big chances due to the high-risk game they played. Marek Svatos was able to capitalize on a breakaway to level the scores late on.

Although in a much more blue collar fashion, Ethan Moreau matched Hemsky's early first period marker by putting the Oilers in front once again less than a minute from the opening face off of the second frame. The game was dominated cyclically, each team giving up around five shots before going on the offense.

After being thoroughly repulsed by the intrepid Avs defense for the first ten minutes of the third, Edmonton finally caught some relief when Brule deflected some a point shot on the power play - bringing the gap to two with less than half a period to go. Eric Tangradi made it comfortable with three minutes to go, but it had been a much closer game than the three-to-nothing elimination last night.

Post game: "We performed admirably against a team that showed a bit more desperation than us. Then again, composed tenacity - if that is ever a concept - won us ground over Colorado who looked a bit stressed at times" commented GM Kowalski on the win. "We are not doing anything differently from the sequences when we have struggled" said head coach Constantine, "but we are mentally improved, reacting faster, thinking less and focusing on the objectives, not the result."


Scoreboard
1st Period:
EDM - Hemsky (Penner, Gagner)
COL - Svatos (Duchene, Wolski)

2nd Period:
EDM - Moreau (O'Marra, Visnovsky)

3rd Period:
EDM - Brule (Laich, Grebeshkov) PP
EDM - Tangradi (Hemsky, Visnovsky) PP


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
Tangradi - Laich - Brule
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky
Axelsson - Cogliano - Moore
Moreau - Falardeau - O'Marra

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Petry

Hiller
(Khabibulin)