Edmonton Oilers hammer Nashville Predators 4-0
Devan Dubnyk got his first career shutout, turning aside 37 shots to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-0 victory over the Nashville Predators, at Bridgestone Arena on Monday night.
An excited Dubnyk said after the game, “We had a tough start, but that’s my job to try and weather the storm. I thought we controlled the game after the first period. With a 4-0 lead, it was tough not to watch the clock a little bit in the last five minutes.”
Dustin Penner and Ryan Jones both lit the lamp for Edmonton, who won their second game in 11 outings. Jim Vandermeer also potted a goal while Andrew Cogliano had a goal and an assist for the victors. Dubnyk made 16 saves in the first stanza, six in the middle
and then 15 more in the third, to help Edmonton snap a four-game losing streak.
Pekka Rinne was beaten for all four goals on 20 shots for Nashville, who have dropped five of their previous six games overall. Rinne was pulled in the final period in favour of Anders Lindback, who only faced two shots and saved them both.
Cogliano got Edmonton on the board with five and a half minutes to play in the opening session. Jordan Eberle set up the goal, as he drifted to the Nashville net and fired a backhander which Rinne stopped. However, the rebound landed in the low slot, where
Cogliano was able to chip it home.
Oilers Coach Tom Renney praised his team's tactics. He said, “I thought we started to push back the last five minutes of the first and I think it gave them something to think about too, that if they don’t get one here soon, that it may come back to haunt
them.”
After another 14 and a half goalless minutes in the middle stanza, Colin Fraser rushed down the right boards and sent a cross-ice pass to Jones, who swept the puck under the legs of Rinne to make it a 2-0 game. It was Jones’ 12th goal of the season.
Edmonton extended their lead to 3-0 early in the third period when Vandermeer released a rising slap shot from the left point, which veered into the net through a pile of players in front of the crease.
More than two minutes later, Penner’s tally blew the game open at 4-0. He received Ales Hemsky’s pass off the left boards, and while skating to the net switched to the backhand, before wrapping a fore-hander around Rinne to turn the game into rout.
Predators Coach Barry Trotz praised the way his opponents played and took their chances. He said, “They have got very skilled forwards, tons of speed, and you want to jump on them early and get them to doubt themselves a little bit. They didn’t have a lot
of chances, and when they did have a chance, they buried it, not like us.”
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