Oilers 2 - 3 Lightning
Final - 2OT
  for this game

Purcell lifts Lightning over Oilers in shootout

Mar 23, 2012 - 3:47 AM Tampa, FL (Sports Network) - Teddy Purcell scored in the sixth round of the shootout as the Tampa Bay Lightning kept their fledgling playoff hopes alive with a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

In the sixth round, Purcell skated in on net and faked to the backhand before lifting it high over Nikolai Khabibulin and the win was sealed when Ryan Smyth snapped his shot off the right post.

Tom Pyatt scored both goals while Dwayne Roloson turned away 34 shots for the Lightning, who stopped a three-game slide.

"He kept us in the game tonight with those huge saves," said Pyatt about Roloson. "This win tonight is all because of him, it was just nice to help the team out."

Tampa Bay has a big hill to climb if it is to reach the postseason as it is currently eight points back of Washington for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with nine games to play.

Linus Omark and Ladislav Smid each scored and Khabibulin stopped 19 shots for the Oilers, who had won three of four coming in.

"We certainly worked hard and we were able to claw our way back and get a point out of it," said Edmonton head coach Tom Renney. "Whenever you get a point on the road it's good, but we played a hard game and I'm proud of the guys."

After a scoreless first period, Tampa took a 1-0 lead on the power play 3:24 into the second when Victor Hedman sent a turnaround pass from the right circle to the front where the puck hit off the skate of Pyatt and snuck in.

The Oilers tied the game midway through the middle frame when Ryan Whitney sent a hard pass from the right boards to the front where Omark redirected the puck past Roloson.

The Lightning, though, took a 2-1 lead into the third when J.T. Wyman got a one-timer on net that trickled by Khabibulin and three Tampa players converged to swipe the puck in. Pyatt was given credit for his 10th goal of the year with 1:42 to play in the second.

Edmonton tied the game with 3:47 to play in regulation as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins sent a perfect pass from the low right side to the left circle where Smid one- timed it home.

Game Notes

Edmonton continues its four-game road trip in Florida on Friday...The Lightning host the Islanders on Saturday...The Oilers had won the past three against the Lightning, but Tampa has taken five of the last eight meetings.






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