Oilers raided by Canucks

Vancouver Canucks vs Edmonton Oilers 4-3 (2-1, 1-0, 1-2)

Edmonton hosted Vancouver mere days after their loss against the Canucks in B.C., looking to halt their slow slide and regain some offense in the process. The Oilers injected new acqusition Eric Tangradi straight into the lineup, forcing Anton Krysanov out as a healthy scratch.

There was an echo from the previous matchup between these two, as Erhoff's stretch pass began a breakout that led to Burrows scoring the opening goal. This time, however, Edmonton replied immediately, with gritty defenseman Ladislav Smid unleashing a rocket from the point that surprised himself as much as it did Luongo. Moreover, the Oilers began commanding the game and delivered a significant amount of hits, forcing turnovers and generally harassing their opposition. But, as a struggling team, they were unable to sustain their pressure and in a momentary relief Daniel Sedin took the opportunity to send the Canucks up by one again.

Selke Trophy prospect Ryan Kesler added to his candidature by scoring a brilliant goal from a Bernier pass, waiting out Khabibulin to score from a tight angle early in the middle frame. George Bernard Shaw was quoted "The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." With the home team's recent form, there were many drunken unbelievers in the stands before the third...

The two teams kept each other at bay until Oiler-killer Christian Erhoff's point shot trickled through and sent the visitors up by 3 goals with some five minutes to play. Fans were starting to sober up at this point, heading for the exits. Dustin Penner, fond of 'wheat based drinks', was on a mission to keep them behind, as he deflected home Moore's wrist shot on the man advantage. There was additional reason to stay when Sam Gagner found the net less than a minute after Penner's goal, but the Oilers were unable to produce that elusive equaliser even with Khabibulin pulled for the extra attacker.

Post game: "A loser never deserves to win" stated GM Kowalski and explained "There is no 'deserve' or 'should have won' for us, even though we had the most chances we also wasted the most chances. A winner does not do that. Simply put, we have a hell of a lot of work to do to patch up the holes in our game and get on with things". Despite his comments, Kowalski did note that he was encouraged by the first line's play at times, but that the team again failed to produce as a unit. Eric Tangradi's debut went by quietly, with no major errors nor contributions.


Scoreboard
1st Period:
VAN - Burrows (Hodgson, Erhoff)
EDM - Smid (Moore, Laich) PP
VAN - D. Sedin (Salo, Kesler)

2nd Period:
VAN - Kesler (Bernier, Erhoff)

3rd Period:
VAN - Erhoff (H. Sedin)
EDM - Penner (Moore, Laich) PP
EDM - Gagner (Hemsky, Penner)


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky
Tangradi - Laich - Hartikainen
Moore - Stone - Axelsson
Moreau - Falardeau - O'Marra

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Yonkman

Khabibulin
(Hiller)