Oilers Shoot Stars

Nikolai Khabibulin can finally breathe a sigh of relief after posting his first win in 14 starts.  The net-minder was in fine form tonight, who looked poised to break his ugly streak. In the first, the Russian made a pad save on Brendan Morrow and then added two more stops on Vincour and Eriksson to keep the game even. 


“I knew the win would come eventually," said the winning net-minder after the game.  


Despite his remarkable play, the Bulin-Wall commented on how his troops was able to post the W. 


"There was more desperation, it was embarrassing the way we played last time,” he said. “And the biggest thing is we didn’t panic when we had the lead.  We were up by two after two periods and we didn’t sit back. We went after them. I think that was the biggest difference.



Centre Sam Gagner could only echo Khabibulin's sentiments.  All the Oilers had to do was come out swinging, create scoring chances and never give up.


”That last game [vs the Ducks] was a real eye opener for us. We were doing a lot of things that we said we can’t do if we’re going to win. We changed it tonight. We supported each other, we were all over pucks, we were in battles, winning races and Khabby made some big saves for us early to keep us alive." said Gagner.


Jordan Eberle opened the scoring on a pseudo power play opportunity.  The rookie fired his12th goal of the season after receiving a brilliant pass from Gagner.  


In the second frame the Oilers were given a power play opportunity and did not fail on their attempt.  Recent call-up, Taylor Chorney slapped home his first ever NHL goal to put the Oilers up 2 zip.  The Rookie was left all alone on the half boards, with a clear lane to fire the one-timer.  


Soon after Dallas responded with their only goal of the evening, Shawn Horcoff redirected Hemsky's pass to grant the Oilers their second PP goal of the game.  Taylor Chorney also added an assist on the play.


23 seconds into the third, Hemsky went in all alone on a partial break-away and tucked a backhander past Lehtonen to give the Oilers a rare win against the Stars with win


4-1 Oilers


The Oilers will now face the Montreal Canadiens this Thurs.




 *Did you know that the Oilers have now played a combined 236 games with rookies in this season alone?