Oilers plunder Boston for points

Edmonton Oilers vs Boston Bruins 5-3 (2-2, 0-1, 3-0)

The Oilers were slowly being crept up on by the Stars, Sharks and Blackhawks, all of which were within 3 points of Edmonton before this game. Boston had not shown much of the resolve displayed in their famous tea 'party' and were bogged down in 12th with 24-26-9 - despite having some quality players like Chara, Bergeron, Savard and even veteran Jaromir Jagr in their lineup.

Edmonton looked eager to get going, and Andrew Cogliano took advantage of his acceleration to keep the defense parked as he used a broken play to score on a breakaway. Former Calgary Flame, Andrew Ference, wanted nothing of being behind and sneaked in behind the defense to receive a well-timed Jagr pass and put it away. Monster center Joe Colborne copied Ference just minutes later by roofing a Jagr pass brilliantly. The Oilers looked blissfully ignorant that their lead had slipped away, because they kept at it with the same tempo regardless. That actually paid off late in the period, as Eric Tangradi netted his first as an Oiler, a beauty from Hemsky and Visnovsky following a unsuccessful power play.

Greek historian Thucydides wrote "It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men." The brilliance of Kevin Constantine is yet debatable, but he did seem to expect too much from the young Oilers team as he kept matching his lines quite unfavourably. Patrice Bergeron took advantage of the fourth line to send Boston ahead.

But just as it seemed Thucydides would be right, the words of Pericles echoed around the boards and mirrored on the ice: "Fishes live in the sea, as men do on land: the great ones eat up the little ones." Just as the Oilers looked to be overpowered by the bigger (badder?) Bruins, the pirhana ate the catfish. Three successive goals by the Oilers took the Bruins by surprise. Visnovsky added his 10th of the year, and the second line pair of Cogliano and Laich took care of the rest.

Post game: "Character win" was the observation GM Kowalski made of the game in the press conference. "We had trouble handling their speed and determination, but kept cool when we looked to be sinking and clawed our way back with style". Visnovsky's first star performance brought him back from the barge just as Hades was setting out, as he had tallied a mere 2 points in his last 15 games prior to this fine 3 point performance.

Scoreboard
1st Period:
EDM - Cogliano (-)
BOS - Ference (Jagr, Colborne)
BOS - Colborne (Jagr, Maltby)
EDM - Tangradi (Hemsky, Visnovsky)

2nd Period:
BOS - Bergeron (Paille, Campoli)

3rd Period:
EDM - Visnovsky (Tangradi, Laich)
EDM - Cogliano (Laich, Visnovsky)
EDM - Laich (Penner, Gilbert) PP


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

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

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Yonkman

Khabibulin
(Hiller)