Canucks maintain psychological advantage over Edmonton in 3-0 shutout.

Lineup
Smyth	York	Hemsky	Brewer	Cross
Torres	Oates	Dvorak	Smith	Staios
Moreau	Horcoff	Isbister	Ferguson	Semenov
Chimera	Stoll	Laraque
			Conklin
			Salo
Scratched: Reasoner (IR, knee); Pisani (day-to-day, shoulder); Ferguson (healthy).

Postgame

Ever since the Edmonton Oilers upset the Dallas Stars in the 1997 playoffs, the Stars have maintained a constant level of dominance over the Oil, to the point where one could question whether or not the string of regular season and playoff defeats was due to some psychological edge the Stars held over Edmonton.

Well, ever since the Vancouver Canucks outlasted the Edmonton Oilers for the final Western Conference playoff spot in the spring of 2002, it has become clear that the Canucks have established a similar level of dominance over the Oilers. Heading into last nights game at Rexall Place, the Oilers were winless in their last six meetings head to head with the Canucks dating back to December of 2002. Over that stretch, everything from clutch goaltending to big performances from third liners to four goal games to questionable officiating had lead to lost points for the Oilers. Last night, in what was the 2nd meeting of the season between the Oilers and Canucks, turnovers cost the Oilers and lead to a 2nd consecutive 3-0 shutout defeat by Vancouver, the first being October 11th at GM place.

The first period may have been one of the most spirited of the year so far for the home team, as the Oilers came out with a seldom-seen physical game, lead by none other than maligned enforcer Georges Laraque, whose hit on Brad May helped set the tone early. At one point the Oilers ended up leading on the shot clock 6-1, but Dan Cloutier closed the door. The best chance of the period was a one timer from the left slot by Raffi Torres on Cloutier, but the Canuck goaltender made the stop to keep the game scoreless. Ethan Moreau also had a breakaway opportunity, but the puck was on edge and Cloutier made the easy stop on Ethan's attempt to end a personal scoring drought. Despite trailing the Canucks in shots 8-7, the Oilers carried the play for much of the first frame.

26 seconds into the 2nd period, Markus Naslund took a pass from Todd Bertuzzi and beat Oiler starter Ty Conklin five-hole for a 1-0 Vancouver lead. Fourteen seconds after, Laraque and May dropped the gloves in a scrap that was precipitated by Georges' first period hit on the Canucks tough guy. Laraque and May were both swinging, but neither combatant managed to land any significant blows. Call this one a draw. Just prior to the halfway point of the period, after an Oiler face-off win to the right of Conklin, Cory Cross made an ill-timed pass off the skate of Raffi Torres, and former "Grumpy Old Man" Mike Keane buried the turnover past Conkin for a 2-0 Vancouver lead. Any optimism from the Oilers strong start to the game was long-gone at this point. Torres showed his frustration by taking an elbowing penalty on Henrik Sedin less than 2 minutes later, possibly as retaliation for a hard hit on Ales Hemsky moments earlier. Neither team capitalized on any of a multitude of 2nd period power play chances, and the teams went to the dressing room after 40 minutes with the hometown Oil down by 2 goals. The best Oiler chance of the 2nd frame was a shorthanded 2-on-1 by Ales Hemsky and Mike York. The Oilers young franchise player continued his tendency to pass in such situations, but the Canuck defender got a piece of the puck, and York's best effort to bury the biscuit resulted in a wide shot on the play, one of many missed nets by the Oilers on the night. The period ended with the shot clock at 24-17 in favor of the Lotuslanders, an indicative stat of the disaster that the period was for the home team.

The third period was dominated physically by the Canucks. Super pest Jarko Ruutu took a bad defensive zone clearing pass from Jason Chimera and fired a shot on Conklin. Conklin gave up a Salo-esque rebound into the slot, and combined with a poor defensive play by Steve Staios, Ruutu walked in and buried the gift to give the Canucks an insurmountable 3-0 advantage. The remainder of the game was disappointing for many of the fans in attendance, as the Canucks managed to render an Edmonton power play ineffective and dominate the Oilers physically for the final five minutes with little response from the home team. Considering the teams meet again in seven days, one has to wonder why it wasn't the team trailing attempting to send a message and set the tone for the rematch. Despite getting shifts in the dying moments, Oiler tough guy Laraque did nothing to respond to the physical onslaught, a departure from the playoff-type performance Laraque seemed to bring to the rink during the first period. It may be another step on the fast-track to the title of "Oilfan Whipping Boy Numero Uno" for the Montreal native, as he remains goalless through 33 games of the season and is more often than not invisible in the physical department, an area in which he is supposed to be a force. The bounces also continued to go against the Oilers in the third, most notably Ethan Moreau beating Cloutier but not the goalpost in the final minutes.

Three Stars

Dan Cloutier - not spectacular, but solid. Made the saves when his team needed them. This guy has his best games against the Oilers.

Markus Naslund - dangerous all night, scored what turned out to be the game winner. Forget all the Bertuzzi hype, this guy is the piece that makes the entire Canuck offense go.

Mattias Ohlund - a physical presence in the defensive zone all night. Credit to Ed Jovanovski for his offensive prowess, but this guy is the rock on the Vancouver blueline.

Quick Hits

- The defensive pairings were reorganized prior to tonight's game, and the new Oiler top pairing is team plus minus leader Jason Smith with big Eric Brewer. The pair looked fairly competent together, with Smith having an intense battle going with Todd Bertuzzi all night in the defensive zone. Smith's efforts lead to an Unsportsmanlike penalty against the mammoth Canuck near the end of the 2nd period. "If you can dish it out, you should be able to take it too, Todd. By the way, how's your wife?"

- No Oiler was worse than minus one tonight. The entire defense looked much more balanced, as the only pair periodically struggling was the new combo of Staios and Bergeron, with a few giveaways over the course of the game. MAB had several competent puck rushes over the course of the evening, and brings a dimension to the Oiler defense that was lacking in previous games. The Semenov-Cross pairing continues to play solid, but it is obvious that for the Oilers to improve, another quality top end defenseman is needed in the long run.

- Of note at forward, the shutdown line du jour was a combination of Ethan Moreau, Shawn Horcoff, and Brad Isbister. At five-on-five, the line was largely able to hold their own during multiple occurrences of head to head play with the West Coast Express line of Naslund, Morrison and Big Bertuzzi. Horcoff has really turned his game around recently, and I like the move of Brad Isbister to right wing in the absence of Fernando Pisani. Isbister seems to be gaining confidence and is playing much better as of late.

- The big positive of the night was that the Oiler penalty kill, which had given up a goal or more in fourteen consecutive games, held the dangerous Vancouver power play off the scoreboard, going 6-for-6 on the night. The Oilers power play, despite some good puck cycling, did not look good, and went 0-for-4. Not enough shots reached the front of the net, and all too often, there were three Oilers behind the goal-line while on the man advantage. Raffi Torres and Ryan Smyth have to start getting to the front and wreaking havoc for this PP to improve.

- Eric Brewer lead the Oilers with a solid 25 minutes, as his defensive game continues to progress. However, at 2.5 million, the coaches and fans are expecting more offensive production from the Vernon, B.C. native.

- Edmonton dominated the face-off dot, with 39 wins as opposed to 21 for the visitors. Leading the charge was none other than Adam Oates, with a 72 percent rating. Mike York and Shawn Horcoff were also solid on the dot, with 71 and 62 percent success rates respectively.

- Ty Conklin did not look sharp on the first or third goals, but he can hardly be blamed for the loss, as both goals 2 and 3 were unassisted tallies due to Oiler miscues. Tommy Salo, meanwhile, watched the game from the dressing room for the 2nd and 3rd periods, as his back apparently cramped up on the Oiler bench. You'd think he'd be used to it by now.

Editorial Commentary

Three years ago, you could go to and Edmonton-Vancouver game and count the number of Nuck jerseys you would see while there without having to take off your shoes. Now, with the Canucks in the driver's seat in the West, the bandwagon is obviously full. Why, I don't see it. The Canucks are a good team, but their starting goalie is still shaky most nights (except when he plays Edmonton), and their alleged secondary scoring line of the Sedin twins and Jason King has accounted for a grand total of 15 goals thus far this year, 11 of those by King, who has gone cold as of late, as many rookies tend to do. I wouldn't be getting too excited as of yet if I were a Vancouver. They have a lot of pieces there, such as a powerful first line, solid bottom sixers, and a good defense. However, something still seems to be missing, and it is this reporter's humble opinion that they will be hard pressed to even duplicate their playoff performance of last year (7th game of the 2nd round), without some tweaking at the trade deadline. St. Louis, Detroit, and Colorado all look very dangerous when at full health, so the Canucks, despite their record, are in tough to improve on last year's performance.

Next Game

Tonight's game came down to two costly turnovers which pretty much gave the game to the road team. It's hard to really pinpoint many guys for poor performances on the Oilers tonight, as they played, in losing, much better than in several other games in the past month. They will need to continue to build on a strong night on the penalty kill, and carry the first period type effort and physical play into their next game. The season is not lost yet, but they have a single point out of the first two games of a critical seven game stretch against Northwest division opponents. Better results over the next five games will go a long way towards deciding whether or not the Oilers will be in the race this season for a playoff berth. Next up is a battle with the red-hot Calgary Flames, who are cruising along under 2nd year coach Darryl Sutter, on Tuesday night. Puck drops at 7:05pm on Sportsnet West, 10:35 for those fans out on the Rock. For those of you who can't watch the game, Rod Phillips and Co. will, as always, have the radio play by play on 630 CHED.

Happy holidays Oilfans!