2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series – Edmonton Oilers record 2nd victory after 3-2 against the Florida Panthers
2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series saw the Edmonton Oilers face the Florida Panthers this Sunday in the 26th game of the season. The match took place at the Rexall Place as 17,000 fans came to cheer their team home team, Edmonton Oilers for another
win after a dominating performance against the Calgary Flames winning 4-0. The Florida Panthers were playing in their 1st game of the season hoping to start the campaign with a win. This didn’t happen as the Edmonton Oilers won 3-2 in an intense
battle that saw both team’s offence and defence tested to the fullest.
1st Period
The Florida Panthers were strong from the start of the match and it seemed that they would score when they got an open opportunity in the 3rd minute of the match. But the Edmonton Oilers goal keeper made a brilliant save.
As the period progressed, the home team settled and came up with a few attacks. This was for a short period of team as the away team again managed to outplay the Edmonton Oilers in the offence. Outclassing the Edmonton Oilers, the Florida Panthers fired
strong shots at the opposing goal.
Despite the weak defence of the Edmonton Oilers, they didn’t let the away team score coming up with crucial tackles at the right time. At the end of the period both teams went into the break goalless and the Florida Panthers piled up 11 shots on goal out
of which none found the back of the net.
On the other hand, the Edmonton Oilers could just make 3 goal attempts that saw the Florida Panthers goal keeper Tomas Vokoun in their way.
2nd Period
After an intense conversation with the Head Coach, the Edmonton Oilers seemed a completely different team. The Edmonton Oilers looked determined to score and with the plays they formed along with the hard work, they were rewarded.
The 2nd minute of the period saw them scoring and taking the lead. The goal was scored by Dustin Penner from 12 feet with a perfect tip in. The home fans urged them to score another one and the Edmonton Oilers didn’t back from the attacks they
were making despite facing a few counter attacks.
Working hard and constantly trying to break past the Florida Panther’s defence, the Edmonton Oilers scored once again in the 6th minute. This time the goal was scored by Ryan Jones from a distance of 31 feet.
The battle turned into a very interesting and exciting one when the Florida Panthers turned one of their frequent attacks into goals to take the score to 1-2. The goal was scored by Marty Reasoner from 52 feet. Both teams had the chance to win, but the Edmonton
Oilers came up with very few chances to score. The important thing was that they had converted all of their chances into goals. This is exactly what they did in the 8th minute as they scored once again this time the Captain Shawn Horcoff leading
by example. The Edmonton Oilers though that they had done the work in the period and it was time to take it easy. This strategy worked for the Florida Panthers as they punished the Oilers for taking them easy.
The goal was scored by Marty Reasoner who scored his 2nd for the match and gave the away team a chance to win with the score on 3-2.
As the whistle for the end of the period was heard, the statistics showed that the Edmonton Oilers scored 3 times out of the 4 goal attempts and the Florida Panthers converted their 12 goal attempts into 2 goals.
3rd Period
The 3rd period didn’t see much happening as the defence of both teams dominated the play. The defence was non-porous throughout.
Though both teams had chances but they were very difficult and therefore no goals were scored in the last period of the game. The match ended 3-2 in favour of the Edmonton Oilers, as the Edmonton Oilers made 6 goal attempts in the period with no goals and
the Florida Panthers made 5 goal attempts with no goals.
"I think everyone knows just how good Khabby can be," Horcoff said.
"He stole that one for us tonight. We didn't play the type of hockey we need to to be successful, but he has that ability."
"There's not much you can do," shrugged Vokoun. "One was a good deflection. The other two, you know, one guy (Jones) didn't even know it hit his stick. The other one goes off the skate. It's tough. I think we played well. We were the better
team the whole game. We just didn't have good fortune tonight."
Tags: