The road to the Stanley Cup goes through...Edmonton?
After being man-handled by the Oilers on their turf a few nights ago, "the contenders" coasted around Rexall Place disinterested with vengeance, and elected to go for a Sunday skate.
Die hard Canuck fans were eager to see their team go out with guns-a-blazing, but in fact got an eye-full of a squad who perhaps wanted a night off.
Die hard Canuck fans were eager to see their team go out with guns-a-blazing, but in fact got an eye-full of a squad who perhaps wanted a night off.
"We expected to be really pushed tonight, we expected that we’d have to bring everything that we possibly could to win this game,” said Oilers head coach Tom Renney. “We fully expected that Vancouver would be a much better team than they were at home and we were equal to the task again. Whether they were or not is inconsequential to me, I don’t care.
“What I care about is the effort that we brought and our attention to detail. It was really taxing for them tonight and we really came through.”
The young Oilers displayed another fine performance against their divisional rivals. Since puck drop, Edmonton out worked, out chanced and literally swarmed Vancouver to earn a hard fought 2-0 win. By the end of the first period the shot clock registered 8-4 for the Oilers; including a very late goal by Ryan Jones. With less than a second left in the period, Jordan Eberle threw the puck on net which ricocheted off of Jones' leg for his 18th goal of the season. For Eberle, his assist now ties injured Sam Gagner, Ales Hemsky, and Taylor Hall with 42 points.
“I thought as a team we were great,” said Jones. “It’s been a continuation from the game the other night. We did a great job continuing to keep the game simple, taking it to them and limiting their time in our end.”
“The odds were stacked against us pretty high in these two games against the Canucks. "I don’t think anybody was giving us much of a chance and it would have been easy to sit back and believe that, but it was exciting to say, ‘no way,’ ’’ Dubnyk said of his second shutout.
Late in the third, the Raffi Torres dropped Jordan Eberle with what appeared to be an elbow-head shot. Ryan O'Marra took exception to the hit and dropped the mitts to dance with Torres. Both players were sent to the box for fighting but Torres was assesed an extra elbowing penalty along with a game misconduct.
“I was finishing my hit and he’s got his head down, we were both going for the puck. If I don’t finish my hit, I’m out of a job,” said Torres.
Eberle continued after the hit and was then robbed by Luongo on the ensuing 5 on 3.
“We were going for the puck, he left it, and did get me in the head. But I’m feeling fine.” said Eberle after the hit.
“I do think it’s the kind of hit the league’s trying to crack down on."
Soon, after the Torres hit, Aaron Rome and Alex Burrows decided take a couple of dumb cross-checking penalties, to hand the Oilers an extra 4 minutes of 5 on 3 action. During the long man advantage, Linus Omark drove hard to the net and accidentally/on purpose found Magnus Paajarvi sitting alone on the door-step and beat Luongo late in the game.
Oilers win 2-0.
Notes. Steve MacIntyre did not play a single shift in the game. Tom Gilbert was a late healthy scratch and did not play. His situation is unknown at the moment.
“I thought as a team we were great,” said Jones. “It’s been a continuation from the game the other night. We did a great job continuing to keep the game simple, taking it to them and limiting their time in our end.”
Late in the third, the Raffi Torres dropped Jordan Eberle with what appeared to be an elbow-head shot. Ryan O'Marra took exception to the hit and dropped the mitts to dance with Torres. Both players were sent to the box for fighting but Torres was assesed an extra elbowing penalty along with a game misconduct.
“I was finishing my hit and he’s got his head down, we were both going for the puck. If I don’t finish my hit, I’m out of a job,” said Torres.
Eberle continued after the hit and was then robbed by Luongo on the ensuing 5 on 3.
“We were going for the puck, he left it, and did get me in the head. But I’m feeling fine.” said Eberle after the hit.
“I do think it’s the kind of hit the league’s trying to crack down on."
Soon, after the Torres hit, Aaron Rome and Alex Burrows decided take a couple of dumb cross-checking penalties, to hand the Oilers an extra 4 minutes of 5 on 3 action. During the long man advantage, Linus Omark drove hard to the net and accidentally/on purpose found Magnus Paajarvi sitting alone on the door-step and beat Luongo late in the game.
Oilers win 2-0.
Notes. Steve MacIntyre did not play a single shift in the game. Tom Gilbert was a late healthy scratch and did not play. His situation is unknown at the moment.
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