CENOVUS GAME STORY

Under the Scope: Oilers vs. Red Wings

An in-depth look at Edmonton's 3-2 loss to Detroit Monday night.

Monday, 19.12.2011 / 10:07 PM / Cenovus Game Story
By Travis Knee  - edmontonoilers.com


The Oilers hung in against one of the league's better teams in this one. Tied 2-2 late in the third period, Detroit would get a deflection from Drew Miller at 15:45 to put the Red Wings ahead to stay, 3-2.

The Oilers record now falls to 14-16-3 on the season and they will play Minnesota on Thursday night. They will then head out on a seven-game road trip after Christmas.


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

With the game tied 2-2 in the third period, Detroit's Drew Mill made a slick deflection to put the Red Wings ahead for good. Nicklas Lidstrom would fire a perfectly placed slap-pass towards Miller who got the tip to beat Nikolai Khabibulin.
48 The faceoff winning percentage for the Oilers overall in tonight's game. They would win 26 of 54 draws.
4 The length of this current losing streak for the Oilers.
5 The once division-leading Oil currently sit 5th in the Northwest division.
14 The Oilers Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins currently sit tied for 14th in league scoring with 34 points each.
 


Pavel Datsyuk
G A P +/- Shots
0 0 0 E 3


Nikolai Khabibulin
SA SV GA TOI SV%
28 25 3 58:14 .893



Jordan Eberle
G A P +/- Shots
1 0 1 E 3



 
Red Wings
Jimmy Howard
SA SV GA TOI SV%
23 21 2 60:00 .913
OILERS
Nikolai Khabibulin
SA SV GA TOI SV%
28 25 3 58:14 .893



 
 Red Wings
  Brad Stuart- D

23:28 - 0 PTS, E rating
OILERS
  Tom Gilbert- D

21:54 - 0 PTS, -1 rating

Trailing 2-1 late in the second period, the Oilers got a huge powerplay goal from Jordan Eberle with less then a second left. WIth the puck bouncing around in the Red Wings zone, Eberle stepped into a loose puck in the slot and went upstairs on Jimmy Howard.

WATCH THE GOAL

Despite the recent struggles, Nikolai Khabibulin continues to provide strong goaltending for the Oilers. Khabby followed up a strong effort in San Jose with another tonight. He made a number a big saves on a talented Red Wings lineup to keep the game close. Overall Khabibulin would stop 25 of 28 shots.

Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard was not tested all that much but was solid when needed. Howard would stop 21 of 23 shots he faced en route to the 3-2 victory. He now has a 20 wins on the season, most of any goalie in the NHL.

The Oilers haven't beaten the Detroit Red Wings since the 09-10 season. The Oil did not register a win against the Red Wings in four meetings last season and are now 0 for 1 in 2011-2012.
 


"You'd love to able to win and learn. But we can't feel sorry for ourselves. Nobody is going to give us points"

-- Oilers head coach Tom Renney on the team's recent struggles.


Thursday, December 22  vs. Minnesota
  7:30pm MDT (SNET / 630 CHED)

The Minnesota Wild will be at Rexall Place for the final game before Christmas. It's the fifth meeting of the year between the two teams with the Oilers having won just one of the previous four. The game can be seen live on Sportsnet Edmonton.


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