• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Roloson, Horcoff fuel Oilers in shootout win

Nov 25, 2007 - 7:11 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- In a game that featured four high-profile rookies, it was a pair of veterans that made the difference Saturday night.

Dwayne Roloson made 38 saves and Shawn Horcoff scored the decisive goal in the third round of the shootout as the Edmonton Oilers edged the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2.

Rookie Sam Gagner got the Oilers off to a good start in the bonus format when he made a series of moves and deked Blackhawks goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin.

"I just tried to get him moving again," Gagner said. "I think I got him to freeze on the fake shot and then when I went to my back hand he kind of went for it, so when I brought it back to my forehand, I had a lot to shoot at."

Roloson, then, denied both rookie Patrick Kane and Yanic Perreault to set the stage for Horcoff's heroics.

"I just tried to stay with them the best I could, to stay out so they didn't have much to shoot at," Roloson said.

Horcoff sealed the victory when he fired a wrist shot between Khabibulin's pads as Edmonton won in the shootout for the fifth time this season.

"They both made pretty good moves," Khabibulin said of Gagner and Horcoff. "Sometimes you get a feel for what the player is going to do and sometimes you don't, on the first goal (Gagner) outwaited me and the second goal (Horcoff) made a good shot. What can you do?"

The Oilers grabbed a 2-1 edge when Marty Reasoner scored his second goal of the season, receiving a pass from Kyle Brodziak in front of the net and beating Khabibulin between the pads at 6:02 of the third period.

Defenseman Duncan Keith answered with his fourth goal of the campaign, blasting a slap shot from the right point past Roloson with 8:42 left in regulation to knot the score at 2-2.

After a scoreless first period, Chicago opened the scoring just 43 seconds into the second session when defenseman Jim Vandermeer blasted a slap shot past a screened Roloson.

"Our forecheck in the first period wasn't as good as it needed to be but in the second period, I thought we could have been up 3-1," Chicago coach Denis Savard said. "We created a lot of chances, we ended with 40 shots and probably 20 good chances to score, overall it was a great team performance. We played a strong team game and that was the message we gave them this morning."

Edmonton nearly answered later in the period when Horcoff had a terrific shorthanded scoring opportunity.

Andrew Cogliano fought off a pair of Chicago defenders, dug the puck out of the corner and fed a wide-open Horcoff in the slot, but Khabibulin robbed him with a stellar save.

The Oilers tied the game at 1-1 when Ales Hemsky notched his seventh goal of the season with 7:47 remaining in the second. Geoff Sanderson made a cross-ice pass to the point to Denis Grebeshkov, who broke in on goal, went wide then slipped a pass behind Khabibulin into the crease to Hemsky for an easy tap in.

Six rookies were on the ice for the opening draw, including the three leading scorers - Jonathan Toews, Kane and Cogliano

"(The rookies) played well, you know, it was a fun game to watch with both good skating teams, I know (Edmonton coach Craig) MacTavish is probably proud of how his guys worked and I know I am of our guys," Savard said. "We'll move on to Vancouver and try to get some points there (Sunday)."