Oilers hunt Ducks at Rexall

Anaheim Ducks vs Edmonton Oilers 4-2 (1-0, 1-0, 2-2)

Edmonton took on the Pacific Divison leader in a tough matchup, in which Khabibulin got the start in net. At the 50 game mark, the Oilers were still holding an admirable 5th place in the conference, ahead of solid teams like the Sharks and Stars.

Contrary to what you would expect when a smallish team like Edmonton goes up against a pugilist bully like Anaheim, it was the Oilers who spent most of the time short handed during the first. Despite being successful at the penalty kill, Edmonton could not keep the Ducks on the ground for long. Taking advantage of a broken play, Vandermeer sent Perry in alone on Khabibulin and the Peterborough native made no mistake.

The Russian bear Evgeni Artyukhin added to the Ducks' lead early in the second, piling up what appeared to be a steadily growing heap of misery on the Oilers' part. Struggling to connect passes and finish chances, the Oilers looked to be in trouble.

Edmonton was down 34-14 in shots coming into the final period, and Anaheim showed no mercy, adding a third goal a few minutes after the intermission. Brooks Laich was able to scrape together some hope when he netted his 13th of the year, but the Ducks looked comfortable. Charles Dickens asked, in his novel Bleak House, "What connection might there be?" - and though he referred to the many plot links - his question would certainly have been considered superfluous when seeing the telepathic symbiosis between Hemsky and O'Sullivan on the Oilers power play. Hemsky and O'Sullivan exhanged three crisp passes on their way to the net, before finishing the play off in style. Nevertheless, optimism was followed by dejection as Bobby Ryan severed all hope from reality mere minutes after.

Post game: "I expect there to be a 4 frame close-up comic strip on the internet of our players today, capped with the phrase 'tenso'" commented GM Kowalski, prompting reporters to search the web for the reference. The team effort was clearly lacking, and individual positives like Laich, Hemsky and O'Sullivan could not make up for a collective failure to address pressure properly.

Scoreboard
1st Period:
ANA - Perry (Vandermeer)

2nd Period:
ANA - Artyukhin (Whitney, Cajanek)

3rd Period:
ANA - Getzlaf (Ryan, Whitney) PP
EDM - Laich (O'Sullivan, Yonkman)
EDM - O'Sullivan (Hemsky, Gagner) PP
ANA - Ryan (Getzlaf, Souray) PP



Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky
Cogliano - Laich - O'Sullivan
Moore - Krysanov - Skille
Moreau - Falardeau - O'Marra

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Yonkman

Khabibulin
(Hiller)