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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Oilers Update - Yakupov Wins it again!



After a big victory in the desert, Oilers forward Taylor Hall tweeted :
Congrats to for celebrating normally after a huge goal..."

Tongue in cheek so to speak, but in case you missed it, after Nail hammered his 4th goal of the season, the 19 year-old stood behind the net, raised his arms and summoned his teammates with his fingers.  While the celebration wasn't over-the-top, it did however brought the ire out of Phoenix's Derek Morris. The defenceman took exception to Yakupov's celly and subsequently threw hay-makers at Ryan Whitney. 

Yawn. Say what you will but you can bet Don Cherry will say a few words on Saturday.

Nevertheless, the Edmonton Oilers beat the desert dogs the hard way. The Oilers thought they had sealed a victory with Lennart Petrell's goal until Nick Johnson tied it at one a piece with 19 seconds left in regulation.

Johnson wristed a juicy rebound past Dubnyk's glove to cancel his first shut-out of the season.  The tying goal came off of the power-play with Sam Gagner in the box and goaltender Chad Johnson pulled for the the extra attacker.  Dubnyk (who has played all 6 games this year) was brilliant for the Oilers stopping 21 out of 22 shots, including a breakaway chance during the early stages of the 3rd. Antoine Vermette received a stretch pass and went in all alone only to be stopped by 'The Giraffe'.  After tonight's win the net-minder improves to 2.72 GAA with .916 SV%.

"Dealing with that late goal and to be able to get the two points showed a lot of character. said Oilers coach Ralph Krueger of his team's resiliency. "It was another real big growth opportunity for our team tonight.'

The Oilers will now take on the Sharks in San Jose tomorrow evening.