Edmonton Oilers slides to victory against Nashville Predators in a shootout to win by 2-1 - NHL Updates
Edmonton Oilers has at last started covering some ground these past few games, gaining a victory over the much higher ranked Nashville Predators on Tuesday night at the jam packed Rexall Place Arena in Edmonton, Alberta. It was a match which remained scoreless
and equal after the first period and finally ended in a thrilling shootout at 2-1.
Having won 6 of their past 8 matches, Edmonton is trying to fully gain some points quickly before the play-offs begin.
"It always feels good if you're winning", said Edmonton’s goalie, Martin Gerber.
He also integrated how confident he felt because of the win and how he is just trying to make the best of this season.
Gerber, who is filling in for the injured Nikolai Kabibulin, is performing just fine, winning his third straight, making a nearly perfect 34 out of 35 saves including some crucial overtime and shootout attempts.
"He was outstanding. He is the only reason we are talking about a win", Oilers’ coach, Tom Renney, said, adding that some goalies form a better rhythm when being attacked more.
Over 16,000 Edmonton fans witnessed the only goals coming in the first period, when Blake Geoffrion from Florida scored the first goal of his NHL career assisted by Ryan Suter at the 12:45 mark, this being his third game, but he was replied by Jim Vandermeer
who tied it within a minute from the faceoff circle.
Luckily for both teams if one of them had scored, the other would have surely lost, as none could get through the goaltenders for the remainder of the match.
Geoffrion is continuing his family profession as an NHL player as his great-grandfather, Howie Morenz, grandfather, Bernie aka “Boom Boom Geoffroin”, and his father, Dan Geoffrion, all played in the league of which two were also Hall of Famers.
The final 40 minutes didn’t seem to pass, as the game was slow and not much exciting. Both teams’ defence was on high alert, as if they were fighting in some sort of a war.
Finally overtime was forced, in which neither were able to take the lead. Such a contest could only be decided in a fierce shootout.
Jordan Eberle was first up from Edmonton, coming out successful against Pekka Rinne who saved 24 shots that night, taking the lead.
Martin Erat got one in on Gerber with a backhand shot from 14 feet, tying it at 1-1.
The next two were missed by both teams when Predators’ David Legwand failed to notice where the puck was on his stick and fired it over the net.
Linus Omark got the game winner when scoring Edmonton’s final shootout attempt.
Cody Franson had an opportunity to tie it, but Gerber dived on time to save it, at last winning the long hard match.
Nashville has lost last 6 of its 8 games and is at desperation point to make it above the playoff boundary line.
"We wanted the two points", Predators’ coach, Barry Trotz, said. "We need two points every night right now. We are still trailing the pack by a little bit here. Getting one is disappointing. But at the same time, one is better than nothing".
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