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Oilers top Panthers to snap four-game skid

Jan 3, 2007 - 6:24 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- A milestone victory reversed the fortunes of the Edmonton Oilers.

Four players scored goals and Dwayne Roloson made 25 saves as the Oilers defeated the Florida Panthers, 4-1, to snap a four-game losing streak.

Edmonton won its 1,000th regular-season game, becoming the third-fastest team to reach the mark behind Philadelphia and Montreal.

"We needed a complete effort from everybody in all our areas of the game including goaltending," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "Right from the goalie out and from the first shift of the game we were in the right spots again and had a good complete game and that's what it takes at this level."

Raffi Torres, Ales Hemsky, Fernando Pisani and Ryan Smyth all tallied for the Oilers, who had been outscored, 20-12, during their recent skid.

Edmonton dominated the middle session, outshooting Florida, 19-5, and it paid off when Torres and Hemsky scored for a 2-0 lead. Hemsky's goal came on the power play with just 1:54 left in the period.

"I think we're a team that when we get our four lines rolling, we're a tough team to stop," Torres said. "So I thought we did a good job of making sure we stayed out of the penalty box, gave our penalty killers some rest and kept everybody involved in the game."

Roloson allowed just a late power-play goal by Olli Jokinen to improve to 16-15-2 on the season. He snapped a personal five-game losing streak during which he had allowed 24 goals.

"We were smart, we were simple right from the start and we weren't making a lot of mistakes or fooling around in the neutral zone," said Oilers center Jarrett Stoll, who had two assists. "I think a lot of the game was played in their zone tonight and it showed."

With the teams skating 4-on-4, Pisani widened the margin to 3-0 at 9:32 of the third, and Smyth later stole the puck and slide a backhander past goaltender Ed Belfour for a four-goal cushion. It was Smyth's 20th goal of the season and third in two games.

"It was kind of embarrassing how we played and we wanted to go out hard in the third and give us a little chance to win," Jokinen said. "It was a 2-0 game and you still have a chance but the third goal was lucky and you can't take that away."

Belfour stopped 29 shots for Florida, which had a two-game winning streak snapped.

"They came out hard and we matched their intensity and we had a decent first," Florida's Martin Gelinas said. "They got the goal and they got momentum going. That's a team that thrives on momentum and we couldn't get back after that."