No Top Guns? No Problem. Edmonton Bombs Colorado

It was scoring by committee last night at the Pepsi Centre in Colorado.  With Penner moved and Hemsky and Hall out with long-term injuries, the young Oilers trampled the struggling Avalanche by posting a 5-1 victory and earned their 3rd straight win.


"It was one of those games where, top to bottom, everybody played the game that we know that we can play, a hard game, taking away space from the other team, creating turnovers and letting our speed and our skill finish plays off.  We had some guys step up in big ways.” said Ryan Jones


Step up indeed.  


Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano and Linus Omark each had multiple points. While Liam Reddox, Alex Giroux, Magnus Paajarvi and Jordan Eberle also contributed to the onslaught in Denver. Most notably was  Gagner who had a goal and two assists and now leads the club in points with 42.  Despite losing their top point getters, this past week, the Oilers show no signs of quit as they wind down the season.  Moreover, there is a sense of win in the locker room, now that the Oilers have posted 7 wins in 10 games.   


"Everyone talks about getting that first pick again,” said Gagner. “But we’ve had enough of that. We got that last year when we got Hallsy. We want to show we’re capable ... and maybe on paper these games might not seem that important, but they are for us in here to establish an identity and continue to move forward as a group. he continued.  I know one thing, if we continue to move up in the standings, it’s going to a very good feeling in this room. That’s our mindset going forward,” 


And number one draft pick for 2011 goes to___________.


Gagner was the first to open the scoring on the power-play.  Cogliano fed Gagner in the slot who ripped a wrister past  Brian Elliott.  5 minutes later, the Oilers were granted an other power-play opportunity and again it was #89 who banked the puck off Elliott's pad to find Jones crashing to make it 2-0.


39 seconds into the middle stanza Shawn Horcoff converted on a one-timer from Paajarvi and Eberle.  Late in the second, Giroux earned his first goal as an Oiler when he deflected Omark's blind wrister to end Elliott's night after the 4th goal.


Before the ice was dry in the third, the Oilers struck again with a short-handed goal.  On a two-on-one Reddox found Cogliano streaking to the net and he made no mistake for the game's final tally .


Devan Dubnyk also looked solid last night.  The back-stopper only allowed for one puck to bleed through out of the 33 he faced.


The Oilers will continue their road trip with a stop in Philadelphia to face Pronger and his Flyers next Tues.