Deslauriers, Oilers blank Coyotes
Last Updated: Monday, November 23, 2009 | 11:17 PM MT
By Justin Piercy, CBC Sports
The Oilers used a three-goal first period and a perfect outing by their backup goalie to beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4-0 in Edmonton on Monday.
Jeff Deslauriers made 36 saves for his first career shutout, while Sheldon Souray and Shawn Horcoff each posted a goal and an assist as the Oilers improved their record to 10-11-3.
"It feels great, so exciting," Deslauriers said. "It's nice to be in that club now. It's a good win for this team, too."
Ilya Bryzgalov made 20 saves in a losing effort as the Coyotes dropped to 13-10-1.
Ethan Moreau opened the scoring 7:59 into the first period after taking a pass in the neutral zone from Ryan Potulny. Moreau turned on the jets and exploded by Coyotes defenceman Sami Lepisto on the outside and swooped across the slot to beat Bryzgalov.
The Oilers' Sheldon Souray got credit for a Matthew Lombardi own-goal and Ales Hemsky struck seven seconds later for his 100th career goal to open up an early 3-0 lead.
"That was tough, giving up a bad goal like that and then seeing them score so soon afterwards," Coyotes defenceman Keith Yandle said. "It really gave them all the momentum."
The two teams battled through a scoreless second period until the Oilers experienced some déjà vu.
Shawn Horcoff appeared to have scored as time expired, just as he did against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.
While Saturday's goal was denied, Horcoff's patience was rewarded as the video review concluded his tip off the shot by Souray beat both Bryzgalov and the clock to make it 4-0.
Deslauriers — starting in his third straight game for the injured Nikolai Khabibulin (sore back) — had a much improved night compared to his shaky start against the Blackhawks where he allowed three goals on the first six shots.
"The other night he looked nervous, and stuff bounced off him, but he got by whatever jitters he must have felt before," Oilers head coach Pat Quinn said. "He had really good focus tonight."
As for the rest of the team, Quinn was pleased with what he saw in the early going.
"We started to move the puck with authority and our guys had some jump," he said. "Our forwards were available and wanted the puck. That made for a good early performance until we got fat and happy.
"I don't know why this team would ever have that happen to them because we haven't accomplished squat yet."
Phoenix made a game of it in the third, outshooting Edmonton 15-6, but it seemed that the Coyotes were snake-bitten.
Three minutes into the final frame, Lauri Korpikoski rang one off the post and two minutes later, the Coyotes had the puck in the crease about half a foot from the goal line. However, Oilers defenceman Ladislav Smid cleared it out of the zone to cement Deslauriers' shutout bid.
with files from The Canadian Press
