Ales Kotalik had a goal and two assists, as
the New York Rangers took down the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2, at Rexall Place.
Marian Gaborik had a goal and an assist, while Christopher Higgins and Ryan
Callahan also scored for the Rangers, who have won two of their last three.
Stephen Valiquette made 26 saves in the win.
"We needed those two points and the way I saw it, it was a pretty even game
and special teams made a difference tonight," said Kotalik. "Our P-K was
tremendous and we made a difference in the power play."
Lubomir Visnovsky and Mike Comrie each had a goal for the Oilers, who have
dropped three straight. Nikolai Khabibulin was charged with all four goals on
39 shots in the loss.
"We've got guys that are supposed to be goal scorers that don't even put the
puck anywhere near the net, so that's the disappointing part," said Edmonton
coach Pat Quinn. "I know this, you don't get many goals if you don't shoot it.
You just have to look at the yellow paper there and you see the guys who don't
bother shooting the puck that are supposed to be goal scorers. So that part is
certainly disappointing."
With 4:32 to play in the opening period, the Rangers drew first blood.
Higgins brought the puck in from the left point, faked the shot and passed it
down low for Matt Gilroy, who sent it right back to Higgins for a shot that
beat Khabibulin.
Skating on the power play midway through the second period, the Rangers took a
2-0 lead. Crisp passing resulted in Michael Del Zotto getting the puck at the
left circle. Del Zotto threw it out to the slot where Callahan deflected it
in.
Edmonton got on the board a little over four minutes later as Visnovsky kept
the puck in at the blue line, skated down the right side and from a sharp
angle threw a backhand on net that fooled Valiquette.
However, New York got its second power-play goal of the game with 3:23 to play
in the second as Gaborik sent a pass from the deep right boards to the left
circle for Kotalik, who snuck in from the point and ripped a one-timer past
Khabibulin.
The Rangers got their third power-play goal of the game at the 7:31 mark of
the third as Kotalik blasted a shot from the high slot that got through the
pads of Khabibulin with Gaborik swiping it into the net.
The Oilers made it a 4-2 game with 9:43 to play as Comrie's backhander from
the right circle made its way past Valiquette.
Edmonton yanked Khabibulin for the extra attacker with a bit over two minutes
to play, but were unable to get any closer.
Game Notes
New York concludes its three-game road trip in Calgary on Saturday...Edmonton
plays in Colorado on Sunday...Edmonton had won three of four against New York
coming into the game...It was New York's first win in Edmonton since February
21, 1999. The team had gone 0-2 with a tie in the three previous games
there...New York finished the game 3-for-7 on the power play while Edmonton
went 0-for-4.
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