CENOVUS GAME STORY

Under the Scope: Oilers vs. Canucks

An in-depth look at Tuesday's 2-0 shutout victory to Vancouver

Wednesday, 06.04.2011 / 12:30 AM / Cenovus Game Story
By Karmela Arocena  - edmontonoilers.com



The second of a home-and-home series between the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks took place on Tuesday night at Rexall Place with the Oilers hoping to repeat the effort they put in on Saturday night in Vancouver.

It started off well for the home team as they came out of the gate flying, holding Vancouver to only one shot for close to ten minutes.  Despite numerous good chances, the Oilers were unable to score until the last seconds when Ryan Jones netted a powerplay goal at 19:57 of the first period.  After 20 minutes of play, the Oilers were outshooting the Canucks 8-4.

A scoreless second period made way for a nerve-racking third period.  Both the Oilers and Canucks were collecting quality scoring chances, but the goalies were there to keep the score stagnant.  However, late in the third, the Canucks took a series of undisciplined penalties that saw the Oilers with four minutes of 5-on-3 time.  At 17:14 of the final frame, Magnus Paajarvi sealed the victory for the Oilers' scoring his fourteenth goal of the year with the two-man advantage to make it 2-0 win.

After stopping 40 of 41 shots in Vancouver, Dubnyk returned in nets and bested his previous performance by stopping all 26 shots he faced to record his second NHL shutout.



All you need to know and more as we go Under the Scope:


At 18:43 of the opening frame, Jannik Hansen went off for hooking, giving the Oilers the first powerplay of the game.  With just seconds left in the period, Ryan Jones deflected a Jordan Eberle shot to open the scoring making it 1-0 for the Oilers.  This sparked the team as they went on to win the game 2-0.
48 Edmonton achieved a 48% success rate in the faceoff circle tonight. Of the regular face-off takers, recent call-up Ryan O'Marra had the best luck with the draws, going 5-4 in the faceoff dot with a 56% efficiency rate.
15 The Oilers blocked 15 shots tonight, more than double the Canucks' 7. Jim Vandermeer and Teemu Hartikainen recorded the most of any player, with three each.
1 With Paajarvi's 5-on-3 goal in the third, it marks the only time the Oilers have scored with a two-man advantage.
2 Devan Dubnyk's 26 save performance tonight secured the young netminder's second-career NHL shutout.


Devan Dubnyk
SA SV GA TOI SV%
26 26 0 59:54 1.00


Ryan Jones
G A P +/- Shots
1 0 1 E 4


Magnus Paajarvi
G A P +/- Shots
1 0 1 E 6



CANUCKS
Roberto Luongo
SA SV GA TOI SV%
22 20 2 59:24 .909
OILERS
Devan Dubnyk
SA SV GA TOI SV%
26 26 0 59:54 1.00



CANUCKS
Christian Ehrhoff - D

24:26 - 0P, E rating
OILERS
Chris VandeVelde - C

23:28 - 0P, E rating


The Swedish duo of Paajarvi and Linus Omark refuse to slow down.  With the Oilers up on a lengthy, 5-on-3, the two Swedes did what they do best: score.  With just under three minutes left, Omark was handling the puck down low and was able to feed a waiting Paajarvi. Paajarvi then beat Luongo close in, to make it 2-0.  The insurance goal helped the Oilers secure the shutout victory.

No one was more stellar in tonight's game than Oilers' goalie Devan Dubnyk.  The young netminder recorded his second consecutive win tonight, both of them coming against the top-ranked Canucks.  He came up big in every situation, including a second period that saw the Canucks outshooting the Oilers 14-6.  The win was also Dubnyk's second NHL shutout of his career, as he stopped all 26 shots he faced.

Ryan Jones never ceases to make his mark on the team.  In his 19:16 of ice-time, Jones played shorthanded, on the powerplay, and even strength.  Not only that, but Jones was also there to intercept passes, create chances, and be a difference maker all around.  Of course, he also scored the game's first goal after redirecting an Eberle shot, a goal that ended up being the game winner.


At 13:05 of the third, Jordan Eberle became victim of an elbow to the head.  It didn't take long for one of the Oilers to answer back as Ryan O'Marra quickly stepped up and dropped the gloves with former Oiler Raffi Torres.  O'Marra landed a few solid hits, using his size to his advantage.  The fight was short, but the message to not mess with the Oilers star players was sent.



It took 332 games before Tom Gilbert missed a game in the NHL.  Before being a late scratch tonight because of a sore back, Gilbert had played in every game in his NHL career.


"It was important for us to come back and show that it wasn't an accident. Just make sure we stayed within the whole game and see what happened. It feels pretty good to do that twice in a row."

- Goalie Devan Dubnyk on his team being able to defeat the President's Trophy winning Canucks in consecutive games.


Wednesday, April 6 at Calgary
  7:00pm MDT (SNET-CGY / 630 CHED)


The season's final Battle of Alberta takes place Wenesday night as the Oilers try to end the series against their provincial rivals the same way it started, with a win. The action takes place in Calgary at 7:00pm MDT.