Edmonton Oilers defeat Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in shootout
Jordan Eberle and Linus Omark scored in a shootout while Nikolai Khabibulin stopped Tampa Bay Lightning’s attempts to give the Edmonton Oilers their 5th victory in six games, 4-3 over Tampa Bay at Rexall Place on Friday
night.
Rookie star Taylor Hall scored his 10th goal for the Oilers, and Magnus Paajarvi and Tom Gilbert added goals in regulation for Edmonton, who are without Captain Shawn Horcoff but won for the fifth time in six outings.
"We need those points," Hall said. "You never know what points are going to matter at the end of the year."
Khabulin was strong in the net, making 38 saves off 41 shots in regulation and overtime.
Lightning star Steven Stamkos, Ryan Malone and Randy Jones provided the offense for Tampa Bay, who have lost three of four played. Ellis took the loss after yielding three goals on just 23 shots through 65 minutes of play.
The play punctuated a frustrating game for the Lightning (15-10-4), who outplayed Edmonton for most of the game, outshot them 41-23, including 17-1 in a third, in which Stamkos broke a six-game drought with his 22nd
goal.
Jones opened up the scoring with his first goal, 5:03 into the contest to give Tampa Bay a lead of 1-0.
“It’s a relief,” Jones said of scoring his first goal of the season. “It’s always good to get the first one and I just hope to get a few more here soon.”
Paajarvi knotted the game at 11:37. Dustin Penner gave a pass to the Oilers’ Forward, before winding up and firing a slap shot above Ellis’ left shoulder.
With 2:12 to play in the first, Malone re-established Tampa Bay’s one-goal lead, but in the second, the Oilers had three straight odd-man breaks and Hall evened the score for a second time.
Tom Gilbert lifted the rebound of an Omark shot over a fallen Ellis which broke a 2-2 tie and gave Edmonton a 3-2 lead at 16:30, but Stamkos snapped a six-game goal drought with 8:27 left in regulation to knot the game, 3-3.
Eberle took the first chance in the shootout and beat Dan Ellis with a wrist shot to put the Oilers ahead. Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Taylor Hall and Stamkos all failed in turn to hit the net. Pouliot's backhander was stopped by Khabibulin
in the first round, and then caught Stamkos' close-range slap shot in the second.
Omark then performed a spin move in the third round, faking a slap shot and firing a snap shot through the pads of Dan Ellis to end the game in Edmonton's favor.
"I'm glad it is over," Omark said. "I was nervous in the beginning. In the next game, I won't be. I know I can do something at this level now, so that's good."
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