Oilers Update - Oilers outshine Canucks

HOCKEY IS BACK!

Last night, the Edmonton Oilers flew into Vancouver and escaped with a 3-2 shoot-out victory of division rivals the Vancouver Canucks.

In the Shoot-Out.
 
Following Sam Gagner's brilliant deke against Roberto Luongo, Ales Hemksy took to the ice and slid the puck under Luongo's pad to solidify the Oilers first win of the 2013 season.

Hemsky, along with Jordan Eberle were goal scorers for the Oilers, #83 tied the game late in the 3rd to force overtime, while #14 decided to open the scoring for the Oilers with a devious backhand with 3 seconds left of the second frame.

photo from the Nationl Post

"It gives us a lot of confidence, we're happy with this. said the 29 year-old from the Czech Rep, who wristed a soft shot which hand-cuffed Luongo - a shot which Luongo probably should've been able to save."It's only one game, but we have a lot of great players, lots of depth now, a lot of guys who can play in different position.  Obviously it's a different team." said Hemsky after the game. 

One game indeed, and it does seem that the Oilers are just a little different.  How different? Perhaps when the line-up consists of RNH, Hall, Eberle, Yakupov, and some very seasoned vets, but what was the most outstanding difference between last night's contest from previous Oilers games?  Eberle has a clue.

"These one goal games were our Kryptonite last year, it seemed like we were losing a lot of them," said the newly anointed alternate captain.  "To come back in the third against a pretty good team is a big character win for us."

Rookies looked good!

While it was a just the same old hockey game for some others such as rookies, Nail Yakupov and Justin Schultz seemed to be comfortable in their new silks.  Yakupov, who skated on the second line with Hemsky and Gagner, was a minus 2 but managed to rifle a patented on-timer into the glove of Luongo.  Yakupov (who now wears #64 on his back) finished the game with 16:20 of ice time and 22 shifts. Defenceman J. Schultz was paired up with Nick Schultz (no relation) also didn't tally a point in the game yet managed get a shot on net.

"We knew we were playing well and we knew we were going to get a goal eventually. said Schulz.  "Once that first one went in at the end of the second the guys kind of rallied. I think we wanted it really bad, and it showed."

The Oilers will now head home to face the San Jose Sharks.