Results in both Calgary, 1-1 draw, and on the out of town scoreboard make Oilers tough playoff path road even more prickly.

Lineup
Smyth	Horcoff	York	Brewer	Smith
Torres	Nedved	Dvorak	Cross	Staios
Moreau	Stoll	Laraque	Bergeron	Ulanov
Chimera	Oates	Pisani
			Markkanen
			Conklin
Scratched: Ferguson, Hemsky, Bishai

Postgame

I am somewhat of an admirer of the old addages, well let's face it I'm a big fan. And the one that would right most true for the Oilers right now is that it's always darkest before the dawn. Included in Edm's last seven games are three matchups vs the two teams that stand behind them and the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. Make it to that segment only trailing by four points or less and they have a chance. But get there in a bigger hole than that and they are done.

But there were 14 games left overall heading into Tuesday night and of the first seven game segment,if you will, two were road contests in Cgy and SJ and three of the five home games featured league powers Colorado, Vancouver and Ottawa.

But what can they do besides hope and play hard and they certainly accomplished the latter in a 1-1 tie in Calgary.

Deadline Day would not have been a good day for the Oilers playoff chances to die and there's certainly better places for them to be buried then in the land of the team who hasn't won a playoff series since 1989.

And no that's not a misprint.

In any case the Oilers came out of the gate hard despite landing in the penalty box before the first minute had ticked away. But they killed the penalty and began to carry the play thanks to the momentum collected from two consecutive powerplays.

Mike York enjoyed oustanding chances on both occasions and the first one was foiled when he found himself alone but in tight on Kiprusoff yet couldn't lift the backhand past the prone Finnish netminder. The second chance for York was dare I say it glorious as he found himself to the left of Kiprusoff and unchecked as a rebound bounced directly onto his stick. York got the shot off quickly but Mikka bested him again with lightning reflexes.

At the other end was the ringing in of the Tommyless Era and Jussi Markkanen did nothing to make Lowe experience any pangs of buyer's remorse. Early on the Flames didn't get much traffic on Jussi and the Oilers cleared the less than greasy rebounds.

Calgary picked up the pace in the second period and carried the play before a great shift from the newly formed Moreau-Stoll-Laraque line. Big #27 rumbled down the line wing and pushed aside Rhett Warriner, himself no slouch of physicality, before sweeping around the net and throwing the shot on Kiprsuoff. Stoll and Moreau jammed the crease but both failed to get a good stick on the rebound. The Oilers and Eric Brewer in particular did a wonderful job containing Jerome Iginla and the only shot of danger the Edmonton native could muster came while the Flames were on the PP with less than six minutes to go in the second. He ripped a shot from the slot but Jussi was in perfect position.

Calgary broke the nut early in the second off a strange play. Shean Donvoan bustled down the left wing and used an Ulanov screen to simply chuck a shot at Markkanen. He directed it into the corner but seemed a bit rattled and Donovan collected the rebound and slide it just to the right of the crease where Ville Neminen outworked Mike York to slide it along the ice and past Jussi.

But the Oilers regained some energer from the The Bounced Czech line as Raffi Torres began to throw the board and create the room that his linemates Dvorak and Nedved usually thrive in. That lead to the SHY line knotting the score when Horcoff tipped a Cross blueline prayer onto Kiprsuff before collected the rebound and throwing it past him.

Torres had the game's best chance in the last 10 minutes off a pretty give and go with Nedved that landed the former Islander unchecked in the slot. But on this night Kiprusoff came as advertised and kept the Oilers at bay.

Iginla did have one last gasp for the Flames with under 10 seconds left off a ill advised pinch from Cory Cross. But Jussi came out to cut the angle and closed the five hole.

Tommy, can you hear me?

Edmonton would have one more chance to close the deal in OT on a PP but it looked remarkably unorganized and the best chance came off a 45 footer from Bergeron on the right side that was without the benefit of a tip or screen.

ST: Edm: 0/5 on the PP
Cgy: 0/4 on the PP

Three Stars

Kiprusoff - Sutter had inside info on this guy as he coached him in SJ and had been hearing about him forever given both their long assiocatiions with the Sharks. Still this has been the deal of the year. Put Kipper in the Oilers net and they are in 5th place at the worst.

Markkanen - He did make three or four noteoworthy saves but the best thing was how relaxed and confident he looked and he instilled the same in his teammates.

Horcoff - Played 18:32, scored the tying goal and had three shots on net. He could use some more finish but he's really improved his skating and playmaking skills. Playing with Smyth hasn't hurt the kid but he's gotten better each and every season.

Out of Town Scoreboard

The Blues trailed the visiting Isles early in the 3rd but tied the game and then won their 10th OT contest of the season to move five points and four W's ahead of the Oilers. LA beat the Yotes and trail the Oilers by two W's but lead them by five points and have a GIH, Game In Hand, on both the Oilers and Blues. Maybe a wildcard team to cheer against would be Nashville. Oilers trail them by six wins and five W"s and also won't win their season series so they would lose on the first two tiebreakers. So where's the sticking point, you say? Well the Preds and Blues face each other twice so if say the Blues won both those games in regulation, then the Oilers remaining game vs the Preds, a home contest by the way, would be much more palatable then trying to reel in the Blues when the Oilers face them in St. Louis in late March. Confused yet? I'm so very sorry.

Oil Gauge

Rough night from the dot from the Oilers as Cgy won 38/66 draws. Conroy was particularily effective as he went 17/29. Yelle also went 8/12 for Calgary. Jarret Stoll took the lion's share of the faceoffs for the Oilers and went 11/22. This dominance didn't impact the game as you woudl imagine because although it lead to some open chances for the Flames rearguards, the Oilers blocked an inordinate amount of shots, at least for the Oilers, and when the defenseman did get the shots through Markkanen had a clear view.....Interesting matchup early on as the newly formed 3rd line matched against Simon-Conroy-Iginla. I imagined disaster with Laraque hampering the efforts of more defensively inclined linemates in Moreau and Stoll. But the Oilers did a fine job and with Brew playing left defense, that lined up him against Iginla and he did a marvelleous job......Ales Hemsky and Alexei Semenov drew the short straw in this one. The latter drew in on Sunday vs the Hawks and exhibited the rust that tenativeness that a prolonged healthy scratch would bring. I would imagine hemsky is stitting because the Oilers don't want York to go back to centre and that means Oates must stay in. But Oates took the least amount of draws amongst all four Oilers pivots so if he isn't in the lineup to take faceoffs, and it appears he isn't, and he isn't in the lineup to check, and that's because he really can't, then why is young Ales sitting?

Next Game

Tonight as the last truly brutal portion of the Oilers sked kicks into great. It's a home contest at, note the start time, 6:30 MST and can be seen on SN West. The Oilers began a five game homestand that concludes with Columbus and Nashville. That's the good news. The bad news is that the Oilers must first attempt to slay Colorado, Vancouver and then finally Ottawa. Happy hunting.