CENOVUS GAME STORY

Under the Scope: Oilers vs. Predators

An in-depth look at Monday's 2-1 loss to Nashville

Monday, 28.11.2011 / 9:09 PM / Cenovus Game Story
By Travis Knee  - edmontonoilers.com



The Oilers took an early lead on Jordan Eberle's goal but couldn't hold on as they fall to the Predators 2-1. The Oilers were held to just 18 shots on goal against a Nashville team that was looking to bounce back from a 6-2 loss to Edmonton on Tuesday night.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Predators and drops the Oilers to 12-10-2 on the season, third in the Northwest division.

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

With the game tied 1-1, Nashville would score at 12:21 of the third period and hang on for the 2-1 win. Predators forward Nick Spaling would take a feed from Jordin Tootoo and fire it top-shelf over Nikolai Khabibulin's glove for the winning goal.
52 The faceoff winning percentage for the Oilers overall in tonight's game. They would win 28 of 54 draws.
2 The number of blocked shots for Ladislav Smid in tonight's game. Smid now has 65 blocked shots on the year, tied for the league lead.
25 The number of points Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has on the season to lead the Oilers. RNH also leads all rookies in NHL scoring.
3 The Oilers now fall to third in the Northwest division for the first time this season.
 


Ryan Suter
G A P +/- Shots
0 1 1 -1 4


Nikolai Khabibulin
SA SV GA TOI SV%
31 29 2 58:34 .935



Jordin Tootoo
G A P +/- Shots
0 1 1 +1 4



 
PREDATORS
Anders Lindback
SA SV GA TOI SV%
18 17 1 60:00 .945
OILERS
Nikolai Khabibulin
SA SV GA TOI SV%
31 29 2 58:34 .935



 
 PREDATORS
  Ryan Suter- D

26:24 - 1 PTS, -1 rating
OILERS
  Tom Gilbert- D

23:54 - 0 PTS, E rating


The Oilers would open the scoring with a snipers goal from Jordan Eberle at 7:07 of the first period. Eberle would find a loose puck in the slot and fire a wrist shot top corner on Anders Lindback. It was Eberle's 8th goal of the year and now gives him 24 points in 24 games.

Despite the loss, Nikolai Khabibulin was solid between the pipes for Edmonton tonight. In a game where the Oilers were heavily outshot, Khabibulin kept his team in it till the end. Khabby stopped 29 of 31 shots in all and now has a record of 9-5-2 on the year.

Getting a rare start in place of Pekka Rinne, Anders Lindback was solid when called upon for the Predators tonight. Lindback stopped 17 of 18 shots but made a couple of key saves when his team needed it en route to the 2-1 win.

Coming into tonight's game, the Oilers and Predators had played 51 career games against each other. They had scored exactly the same amount of goals in those games, 148 each.
 


"I thought our compete level had to improve. As a team, we passed up opportunities. It was way too easy for Nashville tonight."

-- Head Coach Tom Renney on his team's effort in tonight's 2-1 loss to Nashville.


Wednesday, November 30 vs. Minnesota
  7:30pm MDT (TSN / 630 CHED)

The Oilers play the second of a six-game homestand when they welcome the Minnesota Wild to town Wednesday night. It will be the fourth meeting of the year for these teams with the Oilers coming off a 5-2 win over the Wild in Minnesota on Friday night. The game can be seen live on TSN.
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