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Roloson, Oilers turn back Blues

Feb 6, 2009 - 5:40 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Dwayne Roloson did his best to help the Edmonton Oilers keep the St. Louis Blues under their thumb.

Roloson made 33 saves and turned aside both shots in the shootout as the Oilers recorded a 2-1 triumph over the Blues on Thursday.

Robert Nilsson and Sam Gagner scored in the bonus format and Roloson denied T.J. Oshie and Brad Boyes with a pair of right pad saves.

All-Star defenseman Sheldon Souray scored in regulation as Edmonton posted its sixth straight win against the Blues and improved to 3-2 in shootouts this season. Last campaign, the Oilers were 15-4 in the bonus format.

"It was a huge win for us," Roloson said. "We played the kind of game that we needed to play to win the hockey game. We played tough and gritty. We did the little things to win a hockey game. It's a perfect time for it."

With the victory, the Oilers snapped a brief two-game skid.

"We played a lot better. We played a grittier game. Universally, we were a lot harder," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. "I thought we had a lot of chances in the third period to win it - not a lot of shots, but a lot of opportunities for goals.

"It was an important win. It was starting to slide the other way, and you have to turn it around, and we got it turned around tonight."

Jay McClement netted a shorthanded goal and Chris Mason turned aside 22 shots for St. Louis, which fell to 5-1-3 in its last nine games.

"I thought Edmonton really came out strong," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "We had two tough games in Detroit (a 4-3 overtime loss) and Columbus (a 4-2 win). Neither one of them put the pressure on us that Edmonton did tonight at the start of the game. We had to make a couple of adjustments."

Souray snapped a scoreless tie with 3:14 remaining in the second period.

Nilsson gained the offensive zone before dropping the puck back to Souray, who used the screen of St. Louis blue-liner Carlo Colaiacovo and wristed a shot past Mason and under the crossbar.

The goal was Souray's 13th of the season and first in 14 games.

"It's probably good to get on the road here and simplify our game a little bit, which we did tonight," Souray said. "We played hard and good things happened. Good things were happening because we showed a lot of emotion and determination tonight."

McClement leveled the contest in the third with his second career shorthanded goal.

The 25-year-old collected a loose puck at center ice before skating in with Dan Hinote on a 2-on-1 rush. McClement elected to keep the puck and wristed it past Roloson at 5:29 for his eighth goal of the season and third in two games.

"We battled for a point, but we're not completely satisfied with everything," Mason said. "Obviously, we didn't get two points, but we know they're going to be tight games.

"Like Andy said after the game, we just have to keep moving forward. We got a point here and we have a huge game on Saturday (against Colorado)."

Boyes attempted to break the scoreless deadlock with just under 6 1/2 minutes remaining in the second period, but Roloson turned aside his backhanded attempt.

"The last 40 minutes of the hockey game, I thought we had more than enough opportunities to win," Murray said.