Edmonton Oilers put the Colorado Avalanche to Rest
Officially, Edmonton has become the worst team in the league right now just under the Ottawa Senators, but that didn’t stop it from beating its higher up in the Western Conference. The Oilers are persistently declining, with a previous disappointment
from Minnesota, but thrilled the audience in Colorado, Denver at the Pepsi Center by beating their home team by 5-1.
The Oilers are playing slick this month, hoping to recover from a bad season, they have won 4 of their past 5 games including this one. Rookie Taylor Hall managed to get a goal and two assists, http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474586 registered a single goal and assist and Tom Gilbert put up triple assists.
Dustin Penner got his 21st goal of the season during a power play with a little over five minutes remaining in the first, making it an early 1-0. The second round was all Oilers, when Sam Gagner and Taylor Hall scored another
two nearly eight minutes apart. Devan Dubnyk who is a rookie goalie for Edmonton made a tremendous 38 saves, nearly shutting the Av’s out until defenseman Jim Vandermeer was sent out for a two minute penalty allowing Milan Hejduk to make his attempt successful,
creating a 3-1 difference at the end of the first forty minutes.
The Avalanche looked to recover in the final stage of the match, having the advantage early on when Jordan Eberle hooked John-Michael Liles and was sent out at the 1:55 mark, making the Oilers short-handed. Colorado couldn’t take advantage of a careless
situation; Everle came back scoring mid-way through, and Kurtis Foster added the fifth of the night 1:47 later, ending it for both team right then and there.
Brian Elliott, who was playing his first game with the Av’s as their goalie, since being traded from Ottawa, probably didn’t have such a match in mind. He struggled to find his game and a proper blocking strategy, making only 26 attempts unsuccessful
out of 31. Edmonton will remain at home the remainder of the season, facing the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins in the upcoming days.
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