Oilers downed 5-3 by Nashville

Edmonton's Ryan Potulny gets physical with a Predator during Tuesday's game at Rexall Place. Nashville won the game 5-3. (Photo by Andy Devlin / Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club)

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PRE-GAME

Preview Game Notes Head-to-Head Stats Comparison Game Program Video interviews Audio Interviews

PHOTOS

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VIDEO

Watch the highlights Comments from Sheldon Souray, JF Jacques, Steve Staios, Dustin Penner, Devan Dubnyk & Pat Quinn The Other Side: Shea Weber, Pekka Rinne & Head Coach Barry Trotz talk about win over Edmonton

AUDIO

Audio Highlights Sheldon Souray JF Jacques Dustin Penner Steve Staios Devan Dubnyk Pat Quinn

THREE STARS

Pekka Rinne, NSH - 38 saves Shea Weber, NSH - 1g + 1a Marcel Goc, NSH - 1g + 1a

UPDATE

With the loss, the Oilers slip to 16-24-5 and remain in 15th spot in the Western Conference with 37 points.

WHAT'S NEXT

Edmonton hosts Pittsburgh Thursday, January 14 at Rexall Place. The game starts at 7:30pm and will be broadcast on TSN.

Although the Oilers dominated the shot clock and finished with an impressive 41 attempts, the club struggled early in net and was unable to crack Predators' goalie Pekka Rinne until the end of the game. The late surge was too little, too late and Edmonton dropped a 5-3 decision to Nashville Tuesday night.

Jean-Francois Jacques, Ryan Potulny and Dustin Penner earned Edmonton's three goals, while goalie Jeff Deslauriers took the loss after allowing four goals on 14 attempts in the first 26 minutes. Back-up Devan Dubnyk closed the game with 13 saves.

FIRST PERIOD

Although the Oilers fired the first five shots of the game, the Preds got the first two goals. At the five-minute mark, Shea Weber beat Deslauriers with a slapshot, and 28 seconds later, Marcel Goc scored on a backhander to give the visitors an early 2-0 lead.

A pair of good scoring chances by Robert Nilsson and Ryan Stone helped Edmonton maintain the shot lead as the period progressed, but Rinne preserved his club's two-goal cushion.

In the frame's final minute, the Predators evened things up on the shot clock and got their third unanswered goal. Although Deslauriers stopped Ryan Jones' initial tipped attempt, J.P. Dumont caught the rebound, circled the net, and wrapped it across the line.

SECOND PERIOD

Edmonton tested Rinne with seven more shots in the first six minutes of the second period, but like in the first, the Preds' backstopper turned away the puck each time.

Unfortunately, Deslauriers couldn't do the same. Shortly after playing the puck, the goalie rushed back into his net and let a shot by Patric Hornqvist slip through his pads. The misplay prompted a goaltending change for the Oil, and Dubnyk settled in between the posts.

The fresh goalie made three saves and watched his skaters approach 30 shots at the opposite end of the ice by the end of the frame, but the Oilers remained scoreless after 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD

Edmonton and Nashville traded shots early in the final frame, and at 7:22, the persistence finally paid off in a goal for Edmonton. On his team's 34th shot of the game, Jacques got the puck past Rinne to get the Oilers on the board and back within three.

Three minutes later, the Preds appeared to get that one back, but officials ruled that the puck went in off Jones' high stick and the 4-1 game continued.

With seven minutes remaining in regulation, the first infraction of the game was called against Nashville's Hornqvist for slashing. 1:27 into the powerplay, Potulny completed a Sam Gagner and Patrick O'Sullivan tic-tac-toe to score Edmonton's second goal of the game.

But 30 seconds later, the Oilers saw the other side of that scenario. In the final second of Ethan Moreau's hooking minor, Jones and Dumont teamed up for a fifth Predators goal.

Two late Preds penalties gave Penner the edge to tally his 21st of the season during five-on-three, but the goal would prove too little, too late as Nashville held on for a 5-3 win Tuesday night.