Thrashers top Oilers 4-3 in OT

Edmonton's Steve Staios grapples with Atlanta's Todd White during the regular season game between both clubs Thursday, March 12 at Rexall Place. (Photo by Andy Devlin/Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club)

---

GAME CENTRE

Twitter Updates   Pre-Game Info Preview Game Notes Head-to-Head Stats Comparison Video interviews Audio Interviews In-Game Media Andrew Cogliano - 1st Intermission Watch O'Sullivan's Goal Photo Gallery Click here for the photo gallery Post-Game Video Watch the highlights Post-game comments from Patrick O'Sullivan, Tom Gilbert, Dustin Penner, Robert Nilsson, Ethan Moreau & Craig MacTavish The Other Side: Post-game comments from Reasoner, Hedberg & head coach John Anderson Post-Game Podcasts Craig MacTavish Tom Gilbert Robert Nilsson Ethan Moreau Patrick O'Sullivan Dustin Penner Three Stars Vyacheslav Koslov, ATL - Two assists Patrick O'Sullivan, EDM - One goal Zach Bogosian, ATL - Game-tying goal Update With the lone point, Edmonton remains tied with Dallas for seventh spot in the Western Conference, one point ahead of Minnesota and Nashville. What's Next Edmonton continues their three-game homestand Saturday, March 14 vs. Colorado. Game time is 8:00pm MST.

by Jen Sharpe | edmontonoilers.com

After both clubs scored three goals in 30 shots through 60 minutes, Marty Reasoner ended the stalemate in the final minute of overtime to secure a 4-3 win for the Atlanta Thrashers over the Edmonton Oilers. Patrick O'Sullivan recorded his first Oilers goal in the second period, Shawn Horcoff and Robert Nilsson added goals of their own, and Dwayne Roloson stopped 28 shots in the loss.

FIRST PERIOD

Two minutes and three shots into the game, the Thrashers hit the scoreboard. From the middle of the right face-off circle, Jim Slater snapped the puck past Roloson to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

An interference minor to Dustin Penner and then overlapping Thrashers penalties kept special teams on the ice following the goal. Atlanta used its powerplay to assume an 8-3 shot lead, while Edmonton used its two powerplays -- including a one-minute five-on-three -- to even things up.

With 13 seconds left in Boris Valabik's interference penalty, Denis Grebeshkov faked a shot and instead fed the puck to Shawn Horcoff on the right side, who slapped it past Johan Hedberg to tie the game at one.

Four minutes later, some fancy dancing put the Thrashers back on top. Todd White dodged two aggressive Oilers and then passed the puck to Bryan Little, who completed a deke of his own before scoring on the backhand.

The Oilers got within two shots of the Thrashers in the final five minutes of the period, but while sprawled on the ice, Hedberg made two spectacular glove saves to keep his club up by one heading into the second period.

630 CHED's Dan Tencer talks to Andrew Cogliano after 20 minutes

SECOND PERIOD

While Atlanta took two minutes and three shots to score in the first period, Edmonton took two minutes and only two shots to make it happen in the second. With help from Fernando Pisani and Steve Staios, Patrick O'Sullivan recorded his first Oilers goal with a snapshot that fooled Hedberg.

1:23 later, Robert Nilsson marked his return to the line-up by crafting a 3-2 Oilers lead. Although Hederg stopped Nilsson's initial shot and then another by Sam Gagner, #12 pounced on the rebound and fired it into the net for the go-ahead goal.

At the game's midway point, Garnet Exelby's hit on Ales Hemsky earned him an interference minor and a fight with Penner. In addition to the fighting penalties, Penner was named instigator and took a 10-minute misconduct.

Though the infractions netted five-on-five, a roughing minor to Sheldon Souray soon put the Oilers back on the penalty kill. 51 seconds into his club's second powerplay,  defenceman Zach Bogosian beat Roloson with a slapshot from the top of the face-off circle to tie the game at three.

The Thrashers were unable to tally a second powerplay goal when Fernando Pisani served two minutes for cross-checking later in the period. With 13 seconds left on the clock, a tripping minor to Chris Thorburn put the Oilers up a man to start the final frame.

Between periods, it was announced that Thrashers star Ilya Kovalchuk suffered an upper-body injury and would not return to the game.

THIRD PERIOD

Despite spending nearly two minutes on the penalty kill, the Thrashers outshot the Oilers 5-1 in the first six minutes of the third. The visitors stayed on top of the shot clock for much of the period but, like the home team, were unable to light the lamp for a fourth time.

After 60 minutes, both clubs had scored three goals in 30 shots.

OVERTIME

The Oilers dominated the early part of overtime, thoroughly testing Hedberg's flexibility and reflexes. But with only 50 seconds left in sudden death, former Oiler Marty Reasoner ended the suspense by beating Roloson on a breakaway to secure a 4-3 OT win for Atlanta.