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Pisani, Horcoff give Oilers comeback win

Dec 12, 2007 - 7:02 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- The Edmonton Oilers were not impressed with the St. Louis Blues' recent strong play at home.

Fernando Pisani tied the game late in the third period and Shawn Horcoff netted the lone goal of the shootout as the Oilers rallied for a 5-4 victory over the Blues on Tuesday, ending St. Louis' six-game home winning streak.

Horcoff added a goal and an assist in regulation and Ales Hemsky set up three tallies for Edmonton, which snapped a three-game skid.

Doug Weight netted two goals and assisted on another and rookie defenseman Erik Johnson collected three assists for the Blues, who fell to 10-1-0 when leading after two periods.

The Oilers cashed in during a man advantage late in the third to deadlock the game at 4-4. With former Edmonton defenseman Eric Brewer in the penalty box for holding, Robert Nilsson skated behind the net and dished to Pisani, who lifted the puck into the top right corner of the net from alone in front with 4:08 remaining for his first goal of the season.

"It's just a roller-coaster of emotion in a game like that," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "The only question I had at the end of two periods was how many goals we needed to win."

Pisani missed the first 26 games of the campaign with ulcerative colitis.

Keith Tkachuk, who was honored before the contest for reaching the 1,000-game plateau on December 1, nearly gave St. Louis the lead during a 5-on-3 power play with 25 seconds remaining in the third. However, his shot at an open net from the doorstep sailed wide of the right goalpost.

The Blues registered two shots on goal during the two-minute, two-man advantage and another pair immediately after it ended, but Oilers goaltender Mathieu Garon turned aside all four.

"There weren't too many deep breaths on our bench in the last two minutes," Edmonton's Dustin Penner said. "Everybody held their breath, hoping and praying the puck wouldn't go in. They had their chances, but Matty (Garon) stood on his head and made some great stops."

Following a scoreless overtime, neither team could gain the advantage in the shootout through two rounds. Weight was stopped by Garon on St. Louis' third attempt, but Horcoff put a wrist shot between the pads of netminder Hannu Toivonen on Edmonton's chance to clinch the win.

"I thought he was going to go forehand anyway, but he kept on to the post," Toivonen said. "This was a hard one to lose."

Horcoff has converted all three of his shootout attempts this season as the Oilers improved to 8-1 in the bonus format. He failed in his only opportunity prior to this campaign.

"It is definitely comforting with great goaltending and with what Hemmer (Hemsky) and Gags (Sam Gagner) have done," Horcoff said of Edmonton's shootout success. "But for the last year or so, I'd been itching to get a chance in the shootout."

MacTavish was impressed with Garon's effort down the stretch and in the shootout. The backup goalie is 6-0 in the bonus format this season, allowing just one goal on 16 shots.

"Mathieu Garon is pretty special in shootouts," he said. "And he made some saves in the third period to give us that opportunity."

The tally also ended the Blues' chance for their first seven-game home winning streak since December 28, 2001-January 19, 2002.

Edmonton's triumph came one day after losing in overtime to Dallas by an identical score.

"We grew a lot as a group yesterday and today, with back-to-back on the road," Penner said. "It sharpened up our attitude. It's a sign of good things to come."

St. Louis opened the scoring on the power play, as David Backes fired a wrist shot from the right faceoff dot that beat Garon to the stick side at 6:39 of the first period. Lee Stempniak recorded an assist on the play, extending his points streak to six games.

Horcoff pulled even with 4:18 left in the session, beating Toivonen to the stick side with a wrister from the slot. Horcoff stretched his goal-scoring streak to four games and his points run to eight straight contests.

"I would pass up the opportunity to shoot in five-star areas, but you have to work on it, and it's always been a mental thing with me," said Horcoff, who leads the Oilers with 15 tallies.

Weight gave the Blues a 2-1 edge 63 seconds into the middle period, when he received a cross-slot pass from Paul Kariya and fired a shot from low in the right circle past Garon. But Dustin Penner forged another tie just 35 seconds later with his eighth tally of the season.

Brad Boyes restored St. Louis' advantage at 7:05, getting the puck alone on the doorstep and putting a backhander by Garon. Of Boyes' 18 goals this season, 12 have been scored on home ice.

Activated from injured reserve earlier in the day, defenseman Sheldon Souray blasted a slap shot from above the slot past the stick of Toivonen during a two-man advantage at 13:05 to knot the contest at 3-3.

"To be able to set up 5-on-3, with that big shot of his, is going to open things up down low," Horcoff said.

It was the first power-play tally allowed at home by St. Louis since October 27 against Washington.

Weight capped his two-goal performance with 3:57 to go. Johnson kept the puck in the offensive zone at the right point and fired it toward the net, allowing Weight to tip it past Garon for a 4-3 lead.

It was the fourth goal of the season for Weight, with all coming in his last three games.

"It's great that I'm finally scoring, and on the power play, but it's no good if we give it all up in the back, and no good when you can't score on a two-minute 5-on-3 at the end," Weight said.

Garon made 20 saves, while Toivonen turned aside 25 shots.