Undisciplined Oilers drop 3rd straight
Rangers an impressive 3-for-7 on power play in 4-2 victory
Last Updated: Friday, November 6, 2009 | 12:15 AM MT
By Doug Harrison, CBC Sports
The Edmonton Oilers have entered many games this season at a disadvantage, thanks to a slew of injuries and players battling the swine flu.
But they dug their own hole Thursday night with a parade to the penalty box, giving a New York Rangers outfit the break it needed to put the brakes on a four-game losing skid on the road.
Ryan Callahan, Marian Gaborik and former Oiler Ales Kotalik scored power-play goals in a 4-2 doubling of Edmonton, which has lost three in a row.
"We didn't seem to get involved early enough," said Oilers assistant captain Steve Staios. "Any time we got any momentum, we ended up taking penalties. We were back on our heels and we didn't force the play much. We're obviously not playing up to our capabilities."
Chris Higgins had the other goal for New York, which mustered 18 shots on seven power plays on the way to its first win against a Northwest Division opponent this season.
Backup goalie Steve Valiquette stopped 26 shots for his second win in three starts. He started in place of Henrik Lundqvist, who has a stiff right thigh.
Rare home loss
Lubomir Visnovsky and Mike Comrie, who returned following a three-game absence with the flu, scored for Edmonton.
The 7-8-1 Oilers lost for just the third time in 10 home starts. But they will play the next five contests and 11 of 16 on the road, where they have prevailed only once in six outings (1-5-0).
Edmonton was outshot for the 14th time in 15 games, 39-28.
"We've got guys who are supposed to be scorers that don't put the puck anywhere near the net, that the disappointing part," Oilers head coach Pat Quinn said. "You don't get many goals if you don't shoot it.
"We're going to try and get some change. A change in body language if that's what it takes. We're going to wear our goalie out [in practice] too."
On a positive note, Staios returned to the lineup Thursday after missing 12 games with post-concussion syndrome.
Smid, Jacques scratched
Fellow blue-liner Sheldon Souray (concussion) and centres Marc Pouliot (sports hernia surgery) and Ryan Stone (knee) remain on injured reserve, while centre Shawn Horcoff could be out two weeks with a sore shoulder. Defenceman Ladislav Smid (flu) and forward J.F. Jacques (back spasms) also sat out Thursday.
After Higgins opened the scoring in the first period, New York went up 2-0 midway through the second on a power play as Michael Del Zotto sent the puck toward the net and Callahan deflected it over the shoulder of Oilers goalie Nikolai Khabibulin.
Edmonton finally got on the board with five minutes to play in the period as Ales Hemsky deftly slipped the puck to Visnovsky on the point and he charged in and snuck a backhander between Valiquette and the post.
It didn't take the Rangers long to restore the two-goal cushion. They scored another power-play goal less than two minutes later as Gaborik fed Kotalik at the point and he unleashed a slapshot for his second point of the night.
New York took a three-goal lead seven minutes into the third with Fernando Pisani in the box serving a double minor for a high-stick on Del Zotto. Kotalik's screened shot from the point squirted past Khabibulin and Gaborik guided it in from the side of the net for his 12th of the season.
The Rangers conclude a three-game trip in Calgary on Saturday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 10 p.m. ET) while Edmonton embarks on a five-game road swing, beginning Sunday in Colorado.
With files from The Canadian Press
