Rugged left winger grabs Oilers by the throat and keeps them in playoff race following 5-4 over visiting Nashville.

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

Postgame

Heading into the biggest game of the season Craig Mactavish wondered aloud which one of his players would show themselves to be a big game player.

Take a seat, Ty Conklin

Take a bow, Ethan Moreau

The official heart and soul of the Oilers scored two goals and added an assist as he took the team on his back en route to a 5-4 Oilers victory.

The Oilers entered Friday night's game against the Preds trailing Nashville by four points and three wins and unless they could take out the Preds in regulation, it would be time to look ahead to hoping the Blues and Kings would be the teams the Oilers could catch for the 8th spot.

But after a rollercoaster ride at Rexall, the Oilers came out the victors and the spoils are that much closer.

A very non-descript first period begat the affair. Oilers outshot the Preds 9-2 but squandered two powerplay chances and it would be be one second shy of the 10:00 mark of the second period before the Oilers broke the ice and all then hell broke loose.

Is it possible to get an assist on your own goal? Well no not on the scoresheet but Moreau paved the way for his shorthanded marker when he pummelled Kimmo Timonen behind the Preds net and rendered the Nashville rearguard temporarily unavailable for their powerplay. The rookie Dan Hamhuis took over at the point and when he fumbled a point pass Moreau swept in on a 2-on-1 and swept home the rebound to make it 1-0.

But the Preds stuck back quickly and in tandem and goals by the aforementioned Timonen and then Scott Walker on a every poor effort from Conklin had the Preds up 2-1 after 40 minutes.

So here were the Oilers in another nailbiter and the third period turned out to be anything but clam.

Marc Andre Bergeron burst down the left wing and frittered a perfect pass to an onrushing Fernando Pisani. The Edmonton product slammed home the feed and it was 2-2 at the 6:20 mark.

Just 20 scant seconds later Steve Staios was stripped of the puck as he tried to exceed the Oilers blueline and Preds captain Greg Johnson would eventually find the twine and put Nashville back into the lead.

But then the Oilers scored twice in 1:39 to retake the lead and the first goal came from Moreau. His 20th of the season, which is the first season he's hit such heights, came as he took the Preds blueline and then angled towards the corner before shooting the puck against the grain and onto netminder Tomas Vokoun. It wasn't the best effort by the backstopper and it just trickled through but it was almost as though Moreau willed it over the line.

Radek Dvorak made it 4-3 when his centring pass went off the very prominent Timonen and past a startled Vokoun. But a little over a minute and a half later Scott Walker scored his second on another questionable effort by Conklin.

A saw off seemed inevitable.

But a funny thing happened on the way to another postgame scrum of second guessing and of course it happened with Moreau's line on the ice. Ethan found the disc and whipped it back to the right point. Igor Ulanov made a stunningly deft pass to Jarrett Stoll and hurried to the net as the young Oilers pivot ripped a slapper that way. Igor picked up the rebound and fired it into the cage.

With just 1:31 left in the game, the Oilers didn't have enough time to squander the lead and onward this team goes to San Jose with yet another piece of hope to hold onto.

Three Stars

Moreau - Two goals, an assist, +2 and five shots on goal.

Walker - Two goals and five shots for the former pugilist.

Ulanov - A goal, an assist and +3 on the night. He also logged 19:33 of icetime

Out of Town Scoreboard

Nothing on the junket tonight but Saturday features three must see games. First the Blues visit Dallas where the Stars haven't lost in their last 11 home games. Then there are two late matchups with the Preds visiting the red hot Flames and on the left coast the Kings host the Wings.

Oil Gauge

The pairing of Bergeron and Ulanov are showing the chemistry that Igor earlier enjoyed with his countryman, Alexei Semenov. They seem very comfortable with each other and don't bring trouble on themselves Bergeron played 16:05 and had an assist and five shots on net...Stoll finished +3 and went 13/22 from the dot. He also played 15:32. The kid looks like he inhabits the skin of a five year veteran....Mike York returned and looked rather cautious which is to be expected. Speaking of wingers, Raffi Torres was replaced in the third period by Jason Chimera.

Next Game

Oilers head on their second last roadtrip of the season and this one is a small two game jaunt that takes them to California. The first stop is Sunday night in San Jose and gametime is 6 PM MST on SN West.