Sunday, February 05, 2006

Road weary Canucks run out of gas in Edmonton

The Vancouver Canucks brought their seven game road trip to an end on Saturday night, but it didn't have the kind of ending that they might have hoped for.

The Canucks surrendered 40 shots to Edmonton on the way to a 3-1 loss to the Oilers. The win was the first Oiler home game win since January 7th and moved the Oil to within two points of the Division leading Canucks in the Northwest.

Vancouver came out flat and didn't seem to generate much in the way of offensive opportunities as they managed only 17 shots on Edmonton goaltender Mike Morrison. From goaltender Alex Auld to captain Markus Naslund the team was in agreement on one thing, they had no energy and no initiative as they dropped their fourth game of the seven game road trip.

Jarret Stoll, Ryan Smyth and Raffi Torres put in the Oiler markers, while Daniel Sedin scored a highlight type goal for the Canucks, another one of those patented Sedin seeing eye passes that gets banged in for a goal, but it was a highlight on a night that featured few others for the visiting team from the coast.

Morrison brought the Edmonton crowd to their feet in the third as he stoned Anson Carter on a breakaway, sealing the victory for the Oilers. The Canucks now head back for home and match up with Columbus on Tuesday night, a team that defeated these same Oilers a few nights ago.

With little time to rest up, the Canucks will be looking to trying recapture some forward movement quickly with their return to the friendly confines of GM Place.

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