New Jersey Devils defeat Edmonton Oilers in overtime 2-1 – NHL Update
The losing streak of the struggling Edmonton Oilers is far from over as this time, it was New Jersey Devils' turn, defeating Oilers in overtime, 2-1, at the Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on Wednesday, January 11, 2012.
After equalising the scores in the final period, Oilers gave away a costly penalty at the end of the period while Corey Potter was sent packing for two minutes, for tripping Adam Larsson.
As a result, Potter was not available during the starting minutes in the overtime, which gave an edge to the Devils.
Taking advantage of the power-play, Zach Parise scored to give the Devils a victory. He was assisted by Patrik Elias and Ilya Kovalchuk.
“It's always tough to lose in overtime", Oilers’ coach, Tom Renney, said. "You don't want to be doing cartwheels over getting a point. You want to get two, that's what we are all here to do. We played a solid game and didn't give up too much. The chances
were very even".
The Oilers got their fourth straight defeat on Wednesday, but they did try to snap the losing streak, unfortunately failing to do so.
Both the teams had numerous opportunities to score in the game, but despite that, the first period went scoreless.
At 6:44 in the second period, the Devils were penalised when David Clarkson was sent off for two minutes for creating obstructions in Ryan Smyth’s way, when the latter did not even have the puck.
Despite being shorthanded, Devils managed to get hold of the puck and Ilya Kovalchuk, unassisted, passed the opponent’s defensive line to score the first goal of the game.
In the third period, New Jersey tried to extend the lead, but the Oilers’ goalie, Nikolai Khabibulin, stood strong to keep his team into the game.
Devils received another penalty at 8:23, this time as Elias was sent off for tripping Ryan Smyth.
However, Oilers eventually utilised the power-play.
At 8:32, Corey Potter and Taylor Hall combined for an assist when the Devils were short of one player, and set up Alex Hemsky who scored his fourth goal of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season to level the score.
For the rest of the period, no one could score and the game was forced to overtime, where Zach Parise scored a goal to give Devils the win.
"It felt good to get a win and avoid losing two in a row on this road trip", said Parise. “We took five penalties and I took two of those. But we have done a really good job penalty killing. It was nice to finally get a second power play of our own in overtime
and get the win".
Oilers are now going to take on Anaheim Ducks on Friday, whereas the Devils will face Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
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