2/2/2013
A tough finish to a three game road trip for the Oilers, as Colorado willed their way to a 3-1 victory Saturday afternoon.
Edmonton looked good out the gate, as Nail Yakupov deposited his 5th goal of the season only 58 seconds into the contest, but that would be all the offense the Oilers were able to generate.
Colorado showed that hard work can beat skill, outshooting the Oilers 40-26 in the contest.
Oilers head coach, Ralph Krueger, says his team lacked intensity most of the game.
“The lesson at the end of this game is the way we need to deal with a certain fatigue. You could feel it on the bench, and we need to learn to win these games, and find ways to win these games.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who continues to look for his first goal of the season, gave credit to Colorado’s number one line.
“There a talented trio and they worked really hard tonight. They have some injuries up front, but they continued to work hard and I think that’s what makes them such a good line.”
The line of Duchene, McGinn, and Parenteau combined for 5 points on the afternoon.
Edmonton finished off their first lengthy road trip of the season with a 1-1-1 record. Krueger says he would have liked a better record, but overall he felt his team did a lot of good things throughout the trip.
“Dealing with our 1st longer road trip is a new world for some of the guys. Managing your body, managing nutrition is new to alot of these players. It went pretty well, but we felt we had a good opportunity to get points this afternoon in Denver, and we didn’t get them.”
Oilers goaltender Devan Dubnyk played all three games during the trip. He faced a total of 106 shots combined, stopping 101 of them.
Next up for the Oilers is Monday night on home ice, when they host the Vancouver Canucks. (bu)
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