KHABIBULIN MAKES 28 SAVES TO LEAD THE OILERS TO A 3-1 WIN OVER THE HABS

GOAL SCORERS

EDM:   R. Jones (SHG, 04:38 - 2nd) , T. Gilbert (16:28 - 3rd) , R. Smyth (EN, 19:17 - 3rd)

MTL:   M. Pacioretty (16:50 - 3rd)

GOALIES

EDM: N. Khabibulin (W)

 MTL: C. Price (L)

               Last night in Montreal, the Oilers (most surprising team in the NHL with a record of 8-3-2) were looking for win number 9 on the season. 4 minutes in, Paciorettys pass (from the left side) went all the way to the right point and Subban took a slap shot and it was stopped by Khabibulin. 2 minutes later, Taylor Hall's point shot was stopped but Price and the Oilers would take a few wackes at the puck before Price would cover it. Then with 8 minutes to go in the first, Gionta (on the right side) came in on a 2 on 1 and he played the puck to Pacioretty and Khabibulin made the save. So there was no score after 1 period of play.

             2 minutes into the second, Cole came in on the right with Cammalleri on a 2 on 1 and Cole played the puck to Cammalleri and he was stopped by Khabibulin. 3 minutes later, Jones had a shorthanded breakaway and he beat Price five hole on backhand shot to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead. 5 minutes later, Smyth had a shorthanded breakaway and he was stopped by Price. The score was 1-0 Oilers after 2 periods of play. 5 minutes into the third,  Cole did a nice toe drag move to get around the Oilers defense and then he took a shot but it was stopped by the "Bulin Wall."  Then with 3:33 to play, Gilberts point shot would beat Price to make it 2-0 Oilers. 22 seconds later Pacioretty came in on the right side and took a backhand shot and it beat Khabibulin to cut the lead to 2-1. Smyth would add an empty net goal as the Oilers win 3-1 and improve to 9-3-2.

           In the win, Khabibulin made 28 saves on 29 shots. In the Loss, Price made 11 saves on 13 shots."We are disappointed with the score but it wasn't because of a lack of effort or lack of execution," Canadiens coach Jacques Martin said. "We just didn't finish, he made some good saves and we'll look at the tape and find a couple of errors that we need to be better and regroup for Thursday's game." The Habs powerplay was not good in this game as they went 0 for 6 with the man advantage.That's one of the reasons why they lost last night. Another reason was because they could capitalize on their opportunity as they outshot the Oilers 29-14 but couldn't score. The Habs next game will be Thursday night at 9:00 pm E.t against the Phoenix Coyotes on RDS-HD.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo