Oilers' power play clicks in Colorado
Converts 4 of 7 chances to halt Avalanche's home win streak
Last Updated: Monday, November 9, 2009 | 12:44 AM ET
By Doug Harrison, CBC Sports
The scoring woes of Tom Gilbert and the Edmonton Oilers are over, at least on the power play.
Gilbert scored one of Edmonton's four goals with the man-advantage, the defenceman's first tally in 17 games, in a 5-3 win over Colorado on Sunday night to kick off a five-game road trip.
Mike Comrie, Dustin Penner and Ryan Potulny, with his first goal in an Oilers uniform, also connected on the power play, which was 4-for-7 on the night.
"And against the No. 2 ranked penalty killing unit in the league," Edmonton head coach Pat Quinn said. "We probably paid attention a little bit, we moved the puck around and they weren't quite as sharp as they had been on the penalty kill."
Andrew Cogliano scored at even-strength late in the third period to snap a 10-game goalless drought.
The win was Edmonton's third in its past four visits to Denver and halted a five-game losing streak on the road.
The Oilers, who had scored three goals in their three previous outings — all losses — evened their record at 8-8-1.
Nikolai Khabibulin, who made 35 saves in Thursday's 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers, turned aside 34 of 37 shots to help prevent Colorado from setting a franchise record by going 7-0 on home ice to start a season.
He was particularly sharp in the second period preserving a 3-2 Oilers' lead and stopping 19 of 20 shots, including a pair from in close against Wojtek Wolski.
Rare off night
At the other end, Craig Anderson allowed more than four goals for the first time in 17 starts this season. One of the NHL's big surprises in October, he was 11-3-2 with a 2.15 goals-against average entering Sunday's contest.
But Anderson, who blanked Edmonton on 25 shots in a 3-0 victory on Oct. 27, wasn't helped by a group of undisciplined teammates and a defence depleted by injuries to John-Michael Liles (shoulder), Tom Preissing (knee) and Ruslan Salei (back).
"We put ourselves in a hole with the penalties," Anderson said. "Too many men on the ice is a mental error, but shooting the puck over the glass for a delay penalty is just bad luck."
Comrie put the visitors on the board at 4:47 of the first period with his second goal in as many games after missing three contests with the flu.
With Marek Svatos serving a boarding penalty, Sam Gagner's attempted cross-ice pass deflected off an Avalanche player to Comrie, who whacked the puck by Anderson.
"I caught a break when a defenceman deflected a pass," Comrie said of his goal. "Anderson had to go coast-to-coast to come back when the puck came to me and all I had to do was backhand it in."
Svatos redeemed himself by firing the equalizer at the eight-minute mark, the right-winger's fourth goal of the season.
Potulny steps up
Gilbert restored the Oilers lead later in the period, thanks to some aggressive work off the faceoff by Potulny, who was recalled along with fellow forward Liam Reddox from the team's American Hockey League affiliate on Saturday after Ales Hemsky went down with a sore shoulder.
Potulny wheeled behind the Avalanche net and fed Gilbert, who skated in from the blue-line and wristed a shot through a maze of players, including Potulny, and past Anderson.
Potulny and Reddox shone in their season debuts for the Oilers, combining for three points and seven shots. Edmonton remains without forwards Shawn Horcoff (shoulder), J.F. Jacques (back spasms), Ryan Stone (knee) and Marc Pouliot (sports hernia surgery) along with defencemen Ladislav Smid (flu) and Sheldon Souray (concussion).
Penner collected his team-leading 10th goal and 21st point with 58 seconds left on the clock.
T.J. Hensick was inserted into the Avalanche lineup in place of an injured Milan Hejduk (undisclosed) and cut Edmonton's 3-1 advantage in half early in the second period with his first goal in 32 contests.
Khabibulin then lived up to his nickname, The Bulin Wall, for the rest of the period and received some help from a shot-blocking Steve Staios and Jason Strudwick. With teammate Zack Stortini in the penalty box, Strudwick got his stick on a Paul Stastny shot that appeared headed into an open net with Khabibulin out of position.
David Jones had the other goal for Western Conference-leading Colorado, which saw its record slip to 12-4-2.
The Oilers' road swing continues in Ottawa on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET, followed by visits to Buffalo, Atlanta and Columbus.
With files from The Associated Press
