Andre Kovalenko, Ryan Smyth and Dean McAmmond scored two goals apiece and Bob Essensa stopped 26 shots for his 16th career shutout as the Edmonton Oilers snapped a seven-game winless streak with a 7-0 rout of the Vancouver Canucks.
Mats Lindgren also tallied for the Oilers, who were 0-4-3 in their last seven games entering tonight's game. Edmonton, which won for the first time since December 6th, posted its first road victory since a 4-2 triumph at San Jose on November 29th.
Essensa, who recorded his first shutout since blanking the Montreal Canadiens on April 13th, 1994, was not sternly tested as he made eight saves in the first period, six in the second and 12 in the third. It was the fifth shutout of the season for Edmonton.
"I think a power-play opportunity in the second when a guy was creeping in back door, that was probably one of their better chances," said Essensa, who was recalling Vancouver's best scoring chances. "But if you look at the game as a whole, 26 shots and most of them were from outside, very few were second or third opportunities. So I can't take all the credit, the guys played tremendous in front of me."
Edmonton, which is 2-1 against the Canucks, has recorded shutouts in both its victories. Vancouver, which lost for the fifth time in seven games, allowed seven or more goals for the third time this season.
It was also the Canucks worst home loss since moving to General Motors Place and their worst loss since a 9-0 shellacking at Washington last March 12th.
"They took over everything, I think they beat us all over," said Canucks winger Esa Tikkanen. "Give the credit to the Oilers, they're a young team and they're working hard and they definitely won the game tonight. But the sun is coming up tomorrow and we have to be ready for the 26th."
McAmmond opened the scoring 7:01 into the contest and Kovalenko added a power-play mark 2:42 later. Miroslav Satan won a faceoff at the left circle and drew it back to Boris Mironov, who fired a shot from the point. Corey Hirsch failed to control the rebound and Kovalenko put home the rebound for his 17th goal.
Vancouver's best chance came early in the second period when Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny came down on a 2-and-1, but Bure missed a one-timer high and wide. Ryan Smyth added his 16th goal of the season on the back end of the rush 45 seconds into the second period when he beat Hirsch from the right slot.
"I just jumped off the bench and came across the blue line and all of a sudden, the puck was free," Smyth said. "I came in and didn't know what to do. The puck was rolling and I figured I would shoot it low corner and it went in."
Jason Arnott helped extend the lead to 4-0 at 7:42 of the middle session when he whipped a pass from the right corner to Kovalenko, who one-timed a shot past Hirsch.
Lindgren tallied 2:37 into the final period to make it 5-0 before Smyth and McAmmond scored in a 2:01 span to complete the scoring and chase Hirsch.
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Ryan Smyth
2. Dean McAmmond
3. Andrei Kovalenko
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