Oilers-Avalanche: 20 Minutes Does Not a Game Make

The Edmonton Oilers were in Denver to face the Avalanche on Wednesday night. The Avalanche had won all three meetings between the teams this year. Edmonton came into the game only 5 points behind the divisional lead. The starting goaltenders were Dwayne Roloson and Peter Budaj.

The first shot of the game took almost 3 minutes and it went to the Avalanche as Cody McCormack moved out of the corner and took a shot that Roloson saved and held. The teams had gone end to end to that point with no whistles. Joe Sakic then had a good shot that again Roloson saved. The Avalanche continued the pressure and at 4:14 it was Jaroslav Hlinka finding Milan Hejduk open at the far post and he banged the pass in.

1-0  Avalanche at 4:14

Off the face-off the Avalanche came right back into the Oiler zone and it was Hejduk this time setting up Brett Clark and his shot finds the back of the net.

2-0  Avalanche at 4:39

The Avalanche continued with more pressure. Shots were 7-0 for the Avs in the first 5 minutes. More pressure and more shots by the Avalanche. The Oilers finally came close 7 minutes in as Geoff Sanderson found Kyle Brodziak open on the far side and with Peter Budaj beaten he rang his shot off the crossbar. He was so open he could have just slid it in but he actually took the shot and rung it off the iron.

The Oilers registered their first shot with just under 9 minutes gone as Stoll crossed the blue-line and he fired the shot that Budaj grabbed. The shots were now 11-1.

The Avalanche continued to control the play and added a few more shots including a wrap-around attempt by Marek Svatos. Then it was Wojtek Wolski with a shot from the slot that Roloson kicks to the corner followed again by a wrap-around, this time from Ryan Smyth.

Five minutes to go and Tyler Arnason almost made it 3-0 as he took a shot as he crossed the blue-line that seemed to hand-cuff Roloson.  Roloson got enough of it and was able to drop on the rebound as it was rolling toward the empty net.

Four minutes to go and the Avalanche continued to press and Stastny almost set up Hejduk in the slot but a back checking Sam Gagner broke it up. With 2:30 to go the Avalanche had a 3 on 1 due to a bad line change by the Oilers and Ryan Smyth went to set-up Tyler Arnason for a shot but the puck bounced. With just over two minutes to go the Oilers got the first power play of the night at Arnason was called for hooking in the neutral zone.

The Avalanche killed the penalty easily and actually had a chance in the last 6 seconds as Arnason took the puck coming out of the penalty box but his pass was cleared away. Shots in the period favored the Avs 17-3. A brutal, brutal period for the Oilers.

The Avalanche started the second period as they finished the first. The first chance of the period went to Andrew Brunette but Dwayne Roloson flashed the leather to prevent the goal. 2:30 gone and Grebeshkov gave the puck away just outside the blue-line to Jan Hlinka and he found Stastny in and his shot is again grabbed by Roloson.

The Avalanche were all over the Oilers. The shots were 5-0 for the Avs in the first 4 minutes of the period. Five minutes g

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