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Cogliano nets overtime winner for Oilers

Mar 12, 2008 - 5:26 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Andrew Cogliano completed his own version of a hat trick.

The rookie scored his NHL-record third overtime goal in as many games by beating All-Star Manny Legace with five seconds remaining in the extra session as the Edmonton Oilers edged the St. Louis Blues, 4-3, on Tuesday.

Cogliano also netted the overtime game-winners in a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday and a 6-5 triumph over the Chicago Blackhawks two days later.

"It's hard to believe something like this," Cogliano said. "It's certainly a feeling I will remember for the rest of my life.

"Things like this don't happen often. I think I've just been really lucky to have those opportunities go in for me. But yeah, three in a row, that feels pretty good."

Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish was equally as excited as the 20-year-old Cogliano, who was drafted 25th overall in 2005.

"It's quite incredible that a guy could score three overtime goals in consecutive games," MacTavish said. "It's got to be a record. It's got to be."

On Tuesday, rookie Sam Gagner had a goal and two assists and Zack Stortini and Jarret Stoll also scored for Edmonton (34-31-5), which climbed within seven points of idle Vancouver (35-24-10) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Brad Boyes and Andy McDonald each had a goal and an assist and Lee Stempniak also tallied for struggling St. Louis, which suffered its fourth straight loss and fell to 1-8-2 in its last 11 games.

With time winding down in overtime, Cogliano accepted a centering feed from Gagner in the slot and redirected the puck past Legace for his 16th goal of the season.

Gagner joked that Cogliano would have a swelled head after putting together the string of game-winners.

"Curtis (Glencross) said we are going to have to get a chainsaw so we can cut a door open enough at home for him to fit his head through," Gagner said. "He's a pretty humble guy, so I'm sure he'll be OK."

After St. Louis surrendered the game's first three goals in the just under nine minutes, McDonald recorded a power-play goal - thanks to a peculiar bounce - to put his team on the scoreboard.

As Edmonton goaltender Mathieu Garon left his net to retrieve a routine dump-in, the puck took a strange bounce and crossed in front of the goal. Garon fell to the ice while trying to adjust his positioning, but McDonald tapped the puck into the net with 2:44 remaining in the first period.

Blues defenseman Eric Brewer compared the goal to Gagner's tally in the first period.

"It's the same type of play. We take them how you can get them," he said. "It's not like they're going to take theirs back."

Stempniak halved the deficit just 40 seconds into the second period, redirecting a shot by David Backes past Garon for his 12th goal.

Boyes then leveled the contest with 8:45 remaining in the second, when he received a feed from Paul Kariya and wristing a shot past Garon for his 37th of the season.

The Oilers opened the scoring when Stortini wristed a shot past Legace just 2:58 into the first period. Stoll doubled the advantage during a 5-on-3 power play just over four minutes later by taking a pass from Gagner and one-timing the puck by Legace.

Gagner gave the Oilers a three-goal cushion just 97 seconds later, converting a tic-tac-toe play for his eighth tally of the campaign.

"We came out strong in the first, but in the second, we were kind of lackluster and really flat," Edmonton's Fernando Pisani said. "We let them back into the game. Those are the kind of lessons we need to learn, and hopefully we did after this one."