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Tuesday, 23 March 2010
FINAL
2 - 3
FINAL 1 2 3 T
Canucks 1 1 0 2
Oilers 2 1 0 3
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GOAL SCORERS

VAN:   M. Raymond (13:21 - 1st) , D. Sedin (16:12 - 2nd)
EDM:   T. Gilbert (03:02 - 1st) , R. Nilsson (06:58 - 1st) , A. Cogliano (08:01 - 2nd)
GOALIES

VAN: R. Luongo (L)
 EDM: J. Deslauriers (W)
Oilers 3, Canucks 2
Associated Press

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -The Edmonton Oilers took advantage of Roberto Luongo's struggles to continue their winning streak on Tuesday night.

Tom Gilbert had a goal and an assist and the Oilers earned their third consecutive victory with a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

Robert Nilsson and Andrew Cogliano also scored for the last-place Oilers, who were coming off consecutive wins over Detroit and San Jose and have won seven of their past nine at home.

Cogliano said the Oilers caught Luongo on an off night.

"He was struggling," he said. "He struggled early in the first and I just threw it at the net and it somehow found its way in. He's one of the top goalies in the league and that's not going to happen often, but when it does, you take them and run."

Oilers coach Pat Quinn credited his own goalie Jeff Deslauriers, who started with Devan Dubnyk missing the game with an illness, for being a major factor with 31 saves.

"He was really sharp tonight and confident and in mental control," he said. "Our guys battled hard all night long and I like how they played around him. But he was good all night long. He was our best player."

Mason Raymond and Daniel Sedin scored for the Canucks, who have lost two in a row.

The Canucks are five points ahead of Colorado for first place in the Northwest Division.

Luongo took much of the blame for the latest loss on his own shoulders after allowing three goals on 22 shots.

"I made some good saves but unfortunately I should have had all three of their goals," he said. "I've got to find some consistency in my game. It was a bad game every 12 games or so, but now it is every two or three games. I have to get my swagger back."

Three Stars
JEFF DESLAURIERS

Deslauriers was simply brilliant. He wasn't even expected to start, but he came in and stoned the Canucks time after time to give the Oilers the win.
31 saves

MASON RAYMOND
Raymond got the Canucks on the board after scoring on a beautiful pass from Kesler. His line was the best of the night, generating tons of opportunities.
1 goal, 0 assists, -1, 19:32 TOI, 6 shots
TOM GILBERT

Gilbert had a solid night scoring the game's first goal and putting the Canucks on their heels early. It was Gilbert's 3rd goal of the season.
1 goal, 1 assist, +2, 22:23 TOI

Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault credited his goalie for admitting he was off his game early on.

"The one thing about Roberto is that he takes responsibility for his performance," he said. "All three goals tonight I am sure he would like to have back. That said we had plenty of Grade A chances to tie it up and we didn't.

"Right now he is fighting with a bit of a consistency issue. Some athletes will go through that in their career," he said.

Edmonton scored on its first shot at 3:02 of the first when Gilbert sneaked out from the corner and lifted a puck that got between Luongo's pad and the post.

"I was as surprised as he was when that puck went in," Gilbert said. "I was just trying to get the puck on net, actually I was trying to get a rebound and I think it kind of threw him off guard too."

The Oilers made it 2-0 at 6:58 as Nilsson staved off Vancouver defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and cut in on net for his 11th goal of the season.

Vancouver got on the board when Michael Grabner slid the puck through the top of the crease to Raymond who had a wide open net to make it 2-1.

Edmonton made it 3-1 at 8:01 of the second as Cogliano fluttered a shot from the top of the faceoff circle that slipped through Luongo's legs.

Vancouver narrowed the gap once again at 16:12 of the second period as Henrik Sedin sent a pass to twin brother Daniel during a scramble in front and he got his 200th career NHL goal to make it 3-2.

Dubnyk, who had got his first two NHL wins in the Oilers past two games, missed Tuesday's game. He came down with flulike symptoms on Tuesday morning and the team opted to keep him under quarantine, setting off a frantic search for a backup goalie for Deslauriers. The Oilers called in Nathan Deobald, a 5-foot-8 third-string goalie with the University of Calgary that has played one game for the Dinos this year.

Notes: Oilers forward Ales Hemsky resumed skating on Monday after season-ending shoulder surgery and reports that his recovery is going well. ... Vancouver forward Pavol Demtira missed the game due to personal reasons. ... Mason Raymond took his spot on the second line. ... Defenseman Dean Arsene was called up by Edmonton to replace injured Theo Peckham for the game. ... It was the sixth and final meeting between the two teams with Edmonton winning the first game before Vancouver bounced back to win the next four. ... It was the Canucks' first road game since their 14-game road trip surrounding the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.



PIC OF THE GAME
(click for full view)

Three star selections
1st:   JEFF DESLAURIERS
2nd:   MASON RAYMOND
3rd:   TOM GILBERT
Winning Goaltender
Jeff Deslauriers

Losing Goaltender
Roberto Luongo

SCHEDULE
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STANDINGS

WESTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 p - CHI 48 36 7 5 155 102 77
2 y - ANA 48 30 12 6 140 118 66
3 y - VAN 48 26 15 7 127 121 59
4 x - STL 48 29 17 2 129 115 60
5 x - LAK 48 27 16 5 133 118 59
6 x - SJS 48 25 16 7 124 116 57
7 x - DET 48 24 16 8 124 115 56
8 x - MIN 48 26 19 3 122 127 55
9 CBJ 48 24 17 7 120 119 55
10 PHX 48 21 18 9 125 131 51
11 DAL 48 22 22 4 130 142 48
12 EDM 48 19 22 7 125 134 45
13 CGY 48 19 25 4 128 160 42
14 NSH 48 16 23 9 111 139 41
15 COL 48 16 25 7 116 152 39