Edmonton, CANada: Stuck in one of the worst droughts in one of the worst seasons in their history, the Edmonton Oilers enjoyed a rare uplifting night, upsetting the Nashville Predators in the National Hockey League game yesterday.
In just their fifth win since December 10, the Oilers snapped a six-game losing streak.
The Predators (23-22-8) were a model of consistency lately, suffering just four regulation losses in their previous 15 starts (7-4-4). The Oilers (15-32-6) had four wins in their last 21 games.
Edmonton got five different goal-scorers and 34 saves from Ben Scrivens in the triumph.
Amidst snow and sub-freezing temperatures, the New York Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils in the Stadium Series before 50,105 fans at Yankee Stadium. The snow began steadily falling in the second period when the Rangers scored four unanswered goals.
The Rangers (28-23-3) snapped a two-game losing streak and picked up two valuable points from their Metropolitan Division rivals. New York are four points ahead of New Jersey (22-20-11).
Mats Zuccarello scored twice to lead the offensive charge for New York, while Patrik Elias added scored twice for the Devils.
Defenceman Kevin Bieksa’s second goal of the game at 2:15 of overtime gave the Vancouver Canucks a win over the Phoenix Coyotes. The Canucks (27-17-9) posted their third win in four games, while the Coyotes (24-19-9) suffered their third loss in four. Vancouver moved a point ahead of the idle Minnesota Wild. Jannik Hansen, Chris Higgins and center Zac Dalpe had the other Vancouver goals. Antoine Vermette scored a hat-trick for the Coyotes. Nick Bjugstad scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Florida Panthers a come-from-behind win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Sean Bergenheim, Jesse Winchester, Drew Shore and Brad Boyes got the goals for Florida (21-24-7), who rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third.
Defenceman Brian Campbell had two assists and goalie Tim Thomas made 26 saves. For Detroit (23-18-11), Riley Sheahan and Tomas Tatar each had a goal and an assist, and Gustav Nyquist and Daniel Alfredsson also scored. Jonas Gustavsson stopped 33 shots.
Andrew Ladd scored the winning goal and goalie Al Montoya made 33 saves as the Winnipeg Jets came from behind in the third period to score a 3-1 win over Stanley Cup champions Chicago.
The Jets (25-24-5), who trailed for most of the first 47 minutes, took the lead on Ladd’s 150th career goal. Blake Wheeler added two scores for Winnipeg to give him 21 on the season. The Blackhawks (32-10-12) suffered their third straight defeat.
Reuters
