Oilers rookie marks his second OT goal of the season as Oilers escape Chicago with 4-3 extra frame win

Lineup
Smyth	Horcoff	York	Brewer	Smith
Torres	Nedved	Dvorak	Bergeron	Staios
Moreau	Oates	Pisani	Semenov	Ulanov
Chimera	Stoll	Laraque
			Salo
			Markkanen
Scratched: Ferguson, Hemsky, Bishai

Postgame

Be it a death march or a trot to the playoffs, the Oilers down the stretch are once again a fun team to watch. Their powerplay is less than disgusting and this team can create scoring chances.

Edmonton blew into Chicago on Sunday afternoon and their penalty killing unit did their usual road routine, Tommy Salo gave up a goal that would make an ECHL goalie blush and we should know because the Hawks played one, and the Oilers went into OT for their fourth straight game.

And thanks to the kid from Saskatchewan, the Oilers managed to sneak away with two points.

To say sneak away probably isn't a fair assessment. It looks that way at the end of the day because they faced a team that hasn't smelled the playoffs since April of '02 and they had to take them to OT to close the deal. But the bottom line was the Oilers carried the play and allowed just 11 shots in the last 40 minutes and it was still a struggle to win.

Craig Mactavish elected to start Tommy Salo in this game and you had to shake your head at this decision. Did he not trust a very trustworthy backup to beat one of the league's worst teams? And was one start and four days off enough for an incumbant who's been one of the league's worst goaltenders all season?

Well apparently not but the Oilers would solider on and eventually win the day.

The Hawks marked first on the powerplay when Semenov broke his stick and his check, Tyler Aranson, swooped around the left side of the net for the powerplay tally. Edmonton tied it less than two minutes later on a PP of their own when Radek Dvorak won a board battle and walked out to the faceoff circle before deftly finding a pinching Brewer.

Aranson took Chicago ahead in the second period on another PP as he collected a feathery Tuomo Ruutuu pass and pumped it past Salo. But Jason Smith continued the trend of offensive forarys from the Oilers defense and he shovelled a backhand past newly minted NHLer Matt Underhill to knot the game at 2-2.

A quick check of the out of town scoreboard revealed the 7th place Flames safely ahead of the Avalance by a 4-1 score so the Oilers entered the third period tied at 2-2 and maybe realizing that it was just the 8th place Kings who were in their sights.

Edmonton regained the lead a little over six minutes into the third period when Horcoff won the draw and Brewer flicked a wrister from the left point for this second goal of the game. But the Hawks would tie it a little over five minutes later when Daze slipped a 40 foot eggtimer backhand past a startled Salo.

You really had to see it to believe it.

But the Oilers would win it in OT off a nice rush from their defense and some plain old luck.

Bergeron busted up the right side and did a Ryan Smyth-esque slide past the Hawks defender. He found himself on the boards and slightly to the left of the Hawks net when he kicked the puck to Moreau. The Oilers left winger found Stoll in the high slot and Jarrett's shot deflected off off the Hawks defensemen's stick and past the Hawks tender.

Three Stars

Eric Brewer - 25:56 of ictime with five shots on net and two goals for the big defenseman.

Eric Daze - 17:52 of icetime with four shots and a goal for the big winger. This was just his second game of the season but he nearly scored another goal in the first when a lunging attempt went off the post.

Tommy Salo - only allowed one questionable goal. Good show.

Out of Town Scoreboard

The Flames won in Colorado which puts them seven points and six wins ahead of the Oilers. That means that Tuesday night in Calgary means way more to the Oilers than it does to the Flames and that the Oilers most assuredly won't catch them. The Blues won in Buffalo and by virtue of an extra win have taken over 8th spot in the West. Granted the Kings have a game in hand and should take care of business this week with a home and home versus the Penguins like Phoenix Coyotes. Here's a link for the full standings: ;a href="http://rapids.canoe.ca/cgi-bin/NewChat/NC-transcript.pl?CHAT_NAME=NHLTrades1&ACTION=LAUNCH">canoe.ca

Oil Gauge

The numbers are skewed because the OIlers enjoyed five PP's but still noteworthy to mention that Bergeron looked the second most icetime amongst defensemen. It's also encouraging to see him continously jump into the play and if Mactavish isn't sitting him, that means he has the greenlight...Ales Hemsky didn't dress in this game and if Adam Oates isn't traded by gametime on Tuesday night, it will be interesting to see if #83 once again draws the shortest straw....Mike York returned to play 19:02 and the jump was there but his hands looked rusty and Horcoff and Smyth saw more chances against their line than when Pisani patrols the right side

Next Game

Tuesday in Calgary and it can be seen on SN West at 7pm MST.