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Four-goal first period fuels Oilers to rout

Feb 12, 2009 - 6:53 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- The Edmonton Oilers used seven different goal-scorers to add to the woes of the Montreal Canadiens.

Andrew Cogliano, Dustin Penner, Ales Hemsky and Kyle Brodziak each recorded a goal and an assist as the Oilers scored four times in the first period and cruised to a 7-2 triumph over the Canadiens on Wednesday.

Sam Gagner and Liam Reddox added a power-play goal apiece and Zack Stortini also tallied for Edmonton, which matched its season high in goals. The Oilers skated to a 7-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on November 18.

"We wanted to get off to a really good start," Gagner said. "The thing that has plagued us in our last few games is that we had some good chances early that we weren't able to bury. We really wanted to focus on getting traffic early and pucks on the net, and we were able to bang a few of them home early. It was a big win for us."

"When we have been on the other end of these games, we haven't done anything we wanted to do," Edmonton All-Star defenseman Sheldon Souray said. "It's a good lesson for us that sometimes it's not how pretty you play, but that a grittier game can pay off."

Defenseman Tom Gilbert collected a career-high three assists, Shawn Horcoff set up a pair of tallies and Dwayne Roloson made 36 saves for the Oilers.

After missing 25 games with a broken left forearm, Mathieu Dandenault recorded a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, who fell to 2-9-0 in their last 11 games - scoring two or fewer goals eight times during that stretch.

"We discussed this today, and yesterday, we talked about how to work through this situation we're in and how to try and respond," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "You can talk for days and weeks and months, but it's what you do on the ice that counts. We can talk about bad bounces and breaks, like the fifth (goal), but it seems to happen a lot in the past month, and we're going to have to (work on that)."

Defenseman Francis Bouillon also tallied and All-Star Carey Price turned aside 27 shots but surrendered three or more goals for the eighth time in his last nine contests.

Carbonneau admitted he left Price in the game to see if the netminder could work his way out of trouble.

"Nobody wants to stay in there for seven goals, but he has to go through that," Carbonneau said.

Montreal has dropped seven straight games away from the Bell Centre, getting outscored, 35-14, in the process.

With his team on the power play, Gagner opened the scoring at 5:41 of the first period, when he gathered a loose puck on the doorstep and beat Price for his sixth goal of the season and second in as many games.

Stortini doubled the Oilers' advantage with 6:29 remaining in the session by converting a rebound while in front of the net, and Cogliano made it 3-0 just 70 seconds later by tucking the puck past Price for his 13th tally of the campaign and first since January 5.

Hemsky added a power-play goal with 26 seconds left in the period to give Edmonton a four-goal bulge, but Dandenault tallied 10 seconds later to get Montreal on the scoreboard.

"I see a bunch of wide-eyed rookies, and maybe the next time, we'll get it done," Dandenault said. "You've just got to bear down on yourself and take control.

"These are some things that a lot of teams go through. Detroit in the last couple of weeks, and a lot of the good teams. San Jose, they're losing, too. So it's something we have to go through, and I think it's going to make us better after, once we get out of it, because we will get out of it."

Brodziak netted the Oilers' third shorthanded goal of the season on a breakaway with 8:20 remaining in the middle session. The tally was the third shorthander in two games allowed by the Canadiens, as they surrendered a pair in a 6-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Monday.

"We've had our fair share of tough losses in this building, so it was nice to see one go the other way," Brodziak said.

"We scored goals tonight that we haven't seen go in for a while," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. "Carey struggled. He's a heck of a goalie, but he struggled tonight. A few of those might have been stopped on another night."

Penner and Reddox gave Edmonton a 7-1 lead before Bouillon netted his fourth of the season midway through the third to cap the scoring.