Preds sink in Oil

It was a bit of a snoozer.  Nay it was definitely a snoozer.  The Oilers managed to pull a victory out of their behinds after playing, boring, defensive hockey against the visiting Predators. 

"There wasn’t too much flow or chemistry out there, everyone was out of sync,” said Shawn Horcoff, .“You can’t really make excuses, all the lines are familiar with each other. For some reason we just didn’t have the intensity to start that we needed to.”

Actually, both teams looked somewhat disinterested.  It was as though each team still had the "trade dead-line jitters."  Nevertheless, the ugly game needed the shoot-out to decide the eventual winner; but once again, the Oilers can kiss the feet of their goaltender, who set aside 37 shots.  

Martin Gerber received full marks for his play and went home with first star honors.  The 36 year-old veteran was in fine form from the start of the game; and it is hard to believe that he has just played (including tonight) 3 NHL games this season.

“The first five minutes, you just want to work your way in, because with every shot you gain confidence and that’s important, to get that feel for the game,” said Gerber "Experience helps a lot."

And some Swede-ness.

Linus Omark, has made a name for himself for scoring some of the most creative, shoot-out tucks the hockey world has ever seen.  Tonight, the rookie made no mistake on Pekka Rinne which had all the ear-marks of the move that made Omark a You-Tube sensation.  Instead of the famed crossbar bank shot, he elected to gingerly, slide  the puck underneath the right skate of Rinne.

Rinne wasn't so impressed with the move.

“He comes with a lot of speed and makes you back off, but I don’t think he did anything special,” said Rinne. “He made a nice move, but I thought he fanned on the shot. He was trying to go upstairs and fanned on it and I was leaning a little bit.”

Gerber has seen that very move, both on the ice and on his video screen, though he can sort of relate to Rinne's frustration.

"He made that move on me yesterday at practice. It seems like a bad goal but it’s so hard to play,” said Gerber.

41 seconds after  Blake Geoffrion's first NHL goal, Jim Vandermeer rifled the tying goal to send the game into Overtime.

The Oilers will now host the Columbus Blue Jackets this Thursday.