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Garon propels Oilers past Rangers

Jan 6, 2008 - 7:25 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Mathieu Garon made certain that the New York Rangers would remember their trek through Western Canada.

Garon made three stops in the shootout and 18-year-old rookie Sam Gagner recorded the lone tally in the first round of the bonus format as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Rangers, 3-2, on Saturday.

Garon, who stopped 26 shots, denied Sean Avery with a glove save, Scott Gomez with his right pad and Jaromir Jagr with his body to give Edmonton its 11th victory in 13 shootouts this season.

"That's the way we've been winning lately, so we really need those shootout wins because it's tough to win in regulation," Garon said. "I'm feeling good in the shootout and confident, and those are important points."

Gagner wristed a shot that deflected off netminder Henrik Lundqvist's glove and left shoulder before trickling into the net for the lone shootout tally.

"I was just trying to get the feel of the puck going down the ice and trying to get him off his angle a little bit," said Gagner, who has four shootout winners this season. "I was trying to go upstairs and it ended up squeaking through. I was pretty relieved when I saw it cross the line."

Playing in Edmonton for the first time since January 2002, the Rangers finished up a woeful three-game trip with losses to all three Western Canadian teams. New York opened the trek with a 4-3 loss at Calgary on Wednesday before falling to Vancouver, 3-0, the following day.

In addition, the Rangers fell to 0-5-2 against Western Conference teams this season.

"Hopefully, we don't see the West teams for a while," Gomez said. "As much as we like it, it'll be good to get out of here."

With six seconds remaining in regulation and Edmonton nursing a 2-1 lead, Chris Drury tied the game with a brilliant play.

Jagr wristed a pass from the right faceoff circle that was directed toward the side of the net. The puck found Drury, who went down to one knee to catch it, and then in one fluid motion put it on his stick and wristed a shot past Garon to tie the game.

"There wasn't much of a lane, and I believe Jaromir just meant to shoot it at me," Drury said. "That was the result he was looking for, so it was a heads-up play by him. He knows where the net is, obviously, and he knows where I am, so it was definitely a pass, in my opinion. He shot it right at my stomach."

"That's a pretty good play," Edmonton's Shawn Horcoff said. "I mean, he fires it across on purpose to hit him in the chest, or at least I think he does. Anyone else, I'd call it a fluke. But it's Jaromir Jagr, so I think he tried to do it."

Horcoff gave Edmonton the 2-1 lead with 8:31 remaining in the third period.

With Edmonton on a 5-on-3 power play, Ales Hemsky slid a goal-mouth pass to Horcoff, who quickly fired the puck past Lundqvist for his 17th tally of the season but first in his last nine games.

"He finds the open ice so well," Horcoff said of Hemsky, who missed five games with a knee injury. "He's a pretty special player and we have pretty good chemistry together, so it was great to have him back in the lineup."

Jarret Stoll opened the scoring exactly 11 minutes into the second period on the power play.

Horcoff fed Stoll at the point, and the Saskatchewan native fired a shot that was partially blocked by a sprawling Drury. But the puck sailed past Lundqvist for his fifth goal of the season.

Defenseman Dan Girardi leveled the contest and ended the Rangers' goalless streak at 108 minutes, 21 seconds with a tally 8:07 into the third.

After Garon misplayed the puck, Girardi fired a shot from the blue line that deflected off Andrew Cogliano's stick and past the netminder for his eighth goal of the season.

"Wins are not coming easily," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. "I think this is a pretty critical stretch here, these five home games."