Oilers outlast Wings in shootout
Saturday, 11.18.2006 / 12:00 AM
/ News
Detroit Red Wings
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EDMONTON, Alberta -- Raffi Torres' late heroics for the Edmonton Oilers helped preserve one of the league's best home-ice advantages.
Torres scored his first goal in 12 games in the third period and added the clincher in the seventh round of the shootout for the Oilers, who won for the fourth time in five games with a 4-3 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings.
Playing the second contest of a seven-game homestand, the Oilers never trailed and raised their home mark to 8-2-0 this season. The defending Western Conference champions do not play on the road again until they visit Vancouver on December 4.
The teams exchanged tallies in the second and fifth rounds of the shootout before Torres gave Edmonton the edge by firing the puck between rookie goaltender Joey MacDonald's pads.
Robert Lang had one final opportunity to extend the shootout. However, he was stopped on a pad save by netminder Dwayne Roloson, giving Detroit its second straight loss after a nine-game winning streak.
The Red Wings scrambled in the final seconds of regulation and tied the score with four seconds remaining when Jiri Hudler redirected Daniel Cleary's shot from near the right corner past Roloson, who lost his stick earlier on the play.
With the game tied, 2-2, Torres skated into the left faceoff circle and unleashed a wrister that deflected off MacDonald inside the left goalpost at 8:52 of the third period. It was his third goal of the season and first since October 23 against Phoenix.
Detroit defenseman Danny Markov netted his first tally in 88 contests dating to March 5, 2004, to even the contest at 5:11 of the second session.
Markov took Cleary's feed from behind the net and fired a shot from the right circle that deflected off Oilers center Marty Reasoner before sneaking between Roloson's pads, tying the game at 2-2.
Shawn Horcoff and Joffrey Lupul added goals for the Oilers and Roloson made 38 saves to raise his record to 10-6-1.
Making his first career start because Dominik Hasek played against Calgary on Friday and Chris Osgood has a wrist injury, MacDonald stopped 18 shots.
Torres scored his first goal in 12 games in the third period and added the clincher in the seventh round of the shootout for the Oilers, who won for the fourth time in five games with a 4-3 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings.
Playing the second contest of a seven-game homestand, the Oilers never trailed and raised their home mark to 8-2-0 this season. The defending Western Conference champions do not play on the road again until they visit Vancouver on December 4.
The teams exchanged tallies in the second and fifth rounds of the shootout before Torres gave Edmonton the edge by firing the puck between rookie goaltender Joey MacDonald's pads.
Robert Lang had one final opportunity to extend the shootout. However, he was stopped on a pad save by netminder Dwayne Roloson, giving Detroit its second straight loss after a nine-game winning streak.
The Red Wings scrambled in the final seconds of regulation and tied the score with four seconds remaining when Jiri Hudler redirected Daniel Cleary's shot from near the right corner past Roloson, who lost his stick earlier on the play.
With the game tied, 2-2, Torres skated into the left faceoff circle and unleashed a wrister that deflected off MacDonald inside the left goalpost at 8:52 of the third period. It was his third goal of the season and first since October 23 against Phoenix.
Detroit defenseman Danny Markov netted his first tally in 88 contests dating to March 5, 2004, to even the contest at 5:11 of the second session.
Markov took Cleary's feed from behind the net and fired a shot from the right circle that deflected off Oilers center Marty Reasoner before sneaking between Roloson's pads, tying the game at 2-2.
Shawn Horcoff and Joffrey Lupul added goals for the Oilers and Roloson made 38 saves to raise his record to 10-6-1.
Making his first career start because Dominik Hasek played against Calgary on Friday and Chris Osgood has a wrist injury, MacDonald stopped 18 shots.
