Not in the traditional way, mind you, but those two elements stick out in 3-2 win over visiting Columbus.

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

Postgame

The Oilers offense has recently taken the initiative to jump into the play and it's been paying off in W's and points. Against the Blue Jackets the defense stumbled in the second and allowed many great oppurtunites. But it was a rearguard who would eventually start the game winning rush and at this point all's well that ends well.

It should not have been so difficult but these are the Oilers and outside of the last handful of games last season, when have the Oilers ever been comfortable at this stage in March? So began another night of nail biting for the Rexall Raving Lunatics.

The first period ended at 1-1 but the Oilers hit more pipes than Elton John at a Playgirl Fantasy Weekend.

First it was Raffi Torres who hit the inside post off a rush down the left wing. Then it was Georges Laraque who snapped a shot off the crossbar from just outside the faceoff circle. Finally it was Marc Andre Bergeron who hit the top bar through a slew of traffic.

Before the Oilers began their musical interlude, the Blue Jackets struck first when Alexander Svitov went unchecked into the Oilers slot to pick up a somewhat greasy rebound and flick it high past Ty Conklin.

And once the music stopped the Oilers tied the score on a two on two rush that featured Ryan Smyth and Bergeron. Smyth took his defender wide and slid a pass towards the crease to meet an onrushing Bergeron. The dimunitive defensemen dove for the disc and the play would go upstairs but would stand to make it 1-1.

The best thing to say about the Oilers in the second period is that no goals were scored and the jumbotron didn't fall onto the ice. Otherwise it was mayhem in the Oilers end as the Blue Jackets counterpunch nearly floored the home side.

First it was Andres Ericksson who jumped in off the right point to be denied by Conklin. Then it was Nikolai Zherdev who waltzed in unattended and tried to go high on Ty. Finally the most dangerous of them all and noted Oiler killer, Rick Nash, had a clear breakaway from centre before Conklin outwaited him and slid across the crease to deny the glorious chance.

The third period began with a Georges Laraque goal when the big fella staked a crease claim before his check, Luke Richardson. Ethan Moreau threw a wrister towards BJ's tender Marc Denis and Big #27 wobbled a deflection through the wickets. So here began another episode of the Oilers trying to protect a third period lead and who know how that usually ends.

The script arrived with less than eight minutes left in the frame when Andrew Cassels tied the game at 2-2 just as an Oilers penalty expired. He took an Aaron Johnson pass and crept it past a staggering Conklin.

But before the fans could really panic, Steve Staios drove over the Jacket's blueline and rammed a shot on Denis with a hard charging Ethan Moreau collected the rebound to slam his 18th goal of the season in the top corner.

Crisis averted.

For now...

Three Stars

Ty Conklin - This one isn't close if he isn't stellar.

Ethan Moreau - A goal and an assist for the unsung hero soon to be sung if he keeps this up.

Georges Laraque - Six goals on the season, all in his last 21 games.

Out of Town Scoreboard

Check the Oilfans front page for the standings as last night the Preds salvaged a point with a late goal in Van but the Kings lost, albeit to the Blues.

Oil Gauge

Brad Isbister picked up an assist in the first goal but only played 11:11 overall and one wonders how he went almost immeadiately from the IR to playing with the hot tandem of Smyth and Horcoff while young Hemsky continues to get the gate. Neither is great in their own end so there's the end of that line of thinking....Steve Staios didn't kill any penalties in this one and no it wasn't because he was in the box. Igor Ulanov took his place on the SH duty. Staios would finish with 17:15 and Igor with 16:31..No points for Horcoff as his recent roll slowed a little but he did go 10/14 from the faceoff circle.

Next Game

The Preds visit Edm on Fri with the same number of games played but four points and three wins ahead. Gametime is 7PM MST and it can't be seen on SN West. You'll have to go to a bar to catch this one unless you are a CI Subscriber from outside of Alberta.