October 22, 2009
Jeff Ponder
Mathieu Garon did not get the homecoming that he was hoping for.
The Blue Jackets, who signed Garon over the summer as a backup for starter Steve Mason, fell to the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place 6-4 Thursday night. Garon, a former Oiler, made 26 saves and surrendered 5 goals against in his first game in Edmonton since being traded in January of last season.
The Blue Jackets also seemed to have trouble with their special teams. The Central Division team took two late-third period penalties to help thwart their chances of a comeback. They allowed Edmonton to score 3 power-play goals on 7 total opportunities.
They also added just 1 goal on 4 power-play chances of their own, when former Oiler Raffi Torres connected on a nice pass from R.J. Umberger from behind the Edmonton net late in the first period. The goal started a flurry of chances for the Blue Jackets, who also saw Jason Chimera score, along with two goals from winger Kristian Huselius to take a demanding 4-1 lead in the middle of the second period. But the Oilers came roaring back and took the game late, getting goals from Ales Hemsky, Lubomir Visnovsky and two goals from Dustin Penner. Robert Nilsson added the empty-netter. Sam Gagner also scored the first goal of the game for the Oilers.
The game included five-point performances by Hemsky and Penner for the Oilers squad, who now find themselves one point behind the Colorado Avalanche for the Northwest Division lead.
"I was trying to set small goals first, I wasn't expecting to see my name up with the league leaders," Penner said, now seeing his name in fourth in the NHL point-scoring race with 14.
"That would have to be the best game of my career, certainly statistically. The stars lined up for me and my linemates tonight. It feels really good. I don't know the last time I was on a team that bounced back from down as much as we were. That's one of the games where you know the true meaning of momentum."
"We really shot ourselves in the foot," Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash said about the blown three-goal lead. "We had that game, up 4-1 on the road. We should definitely have won that. Our power play wasn't very good. We have to get over this one quick. We'll move on. It's a long season."
The Blue Jackets will head to Anaheim to take on the Ducks Saturday night at 10:00 EST in the second game of a three-game road trip.
Showing posts with label edmonton oilers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label edmonton oilers. Show all posts
Friday, October 23, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Vancouver Canucks - 1 Edmonton Oilers - 2
October 19, 2009
Jeff Ponder
The Canucks gave it a valiant effort; but it was too little too late.
The Canucks lost a nail-biter in front of a packed Rexall Place crowd Monday night, 2-1. Edmonton got some key goals and flashy goaltending in their fifth win of the season. After a rough start to the first, the Oilers turned it on and got what they set out for.
Just 6:32 into the first period, Oilers' defenseman Denis Grebeshkov had the puck slip off his stick, going right to Canucks' forward Kyle Wellwood. The 26-year old forward got it in front to Steve Bernier just before pounding it past Oilers' goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin for the early 1-0 lead.
"I don't think we started too well in the game," Khabibulin said. "But from the second period on, I thought we took it to them and played pretty well.” Khabibulin stopped 39 of 40 Vancouver shots.
Patrick O'Sullivan scored his second goal of the season for Edmonton just 0:26 into the second period, and Sam Gagner added his third of the season in the middle of the third period after a huge Vancouver giveaway behind their net for the game-winning goal.
But the real excitement came late in the third, when Vancouver kept pressing for the tying-goal. It seemed that all hope was lost for the Vancouver club when the Oilers cleared the zone with a little over 0:08 left, but Kyle Wellwood danced around the Oilers' blue line and skated in with a head of steam past the Edmonton forwards. He made a nice move around defenseman Tom Gilbert and then stuffed the puck past Khabibulin and immediately threw his arms in the air for celebration. After an official review of the play, it was deemed that the puck crossed the line well after the final horn had sounded.
Oilers' coach Pat Quinn did not seem to enjoy the late-game heroics by the Canucks.
"It was a six-on-three attack and our defense looked up and saw the bodies coming and just decided to back in and pray, it looked like," Quinn said. "But four seconds, it is in the net."
Vancouver drops to 3-5-0 with the loss, while Edmonton improves to 5-2-1 on the season. Edmonton's next game will be Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets at home before leaving for a two-game road trip in Calgary and Vancouver.
Jeff Ponder
The Canucks gave it a valiant effort; but it was too little too late.
The Canucks lost a nail-biter in front of a packed Rexall Place crowd Monday night, 2-1. Edmonton got some key goals and flashy goaltending in their fifth win of the season. After a rough start to the first, the Oilers turned it on and got what they set out for.
Just 6:32 into the first period, Oilers' defenseman Denis Grebeshkov had the puck slip off his stick, going right to Canucks' forward Kyle Wellwood. The 26-year old forward got it in front to Steve Bernier just before pounding it past Oilers' goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin for the early 1-0 lead.
"I don't think we started too well in the game," Khabibulin said. "But from the second period on, I thought we took it to them and played pretty well.” Khabibulin stopped 39 of 40 Vancouver shots.
Patrick O'Sullivan scored his second goal of the season for Edmonton just 0:26 into the second period, and Sam Gagner added his third of the season in the middle of the third period after a huge Vancouver giveaway behind their net for the game-winning goal.
But the real excitement came late in the third, when Vancouver kept pressing for the tying-goal. It seemed that all hope was lost for the Vancouver club when the Oilers cleared the zone with a little over 0:08 left, but Kyle Wellwood danced around the Oilers' blue line and skated in with a head of steam past the Edmonton forwards. He made a nice move around defenseman Tom Gilbert and then stuffed the puck past Khabibulin and immediately threw his arms in the air for celebration. After an official review of the play, it was deemed that the puck crossed the line well after the final horn had sounded.
Oilers' coach Pat Quinn did not seem to enjoy the late-game heroics by the Canucks.
"It was a six-on-three attack and our defense looked up and saw the bodies coming and just decided to back in and pray, it looked like," Quinn said. "But four seconds, it is in the net."
Vancouver drops to 3-5-0 with the loss, while Edmonton improves to 5-2-1 on the season. Edmonton's next game will be Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets at home before leaving for a two-game road trip in Calgary and Vancouver.
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