Nedved strikes again in 4-2 Oilers win over visting Phoenix.

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

Postgame

If Anthony Kedis were an Oilers fan he'd probably bellow that true playoff teams don't...lose to Coyotes. We know that should be the case but for five long minutes of actual time, albeit just 28 seconds of icetime, it appeared that maybe Phoenix could take the Oilers to overtime and we know the success the Oilers have been having lately in the fourth frame.

But shortly after Shane Doan scored to tie the game 2-2, Igor Ulanov finished off a Petr Nedved play and his slapper from the deep slot would be the eventual game winner in a 4-2 Oilers victory.

Fernando Pisani had opened the scoring nearly midway through the first period when he connected on the PP for his 16th of the season and sixth goal in his last sixth games. He was the beneficary of a wonderful setup from Ryan Smyth who's slowly putting his nameplate up in Gretzky's old office behind the opposition's net.

But 37 seconds later Shane Doan scored his first of the night when he found himself unchecked in the slot and drove the rubber past Just Markkanen.

The Oilers had to be dragged kicking and screaming into this contest and some malaise is all you can expect from a team that's played with a gun to their heads since well before guns were invented.

But Mike York gave the team the lead late in the second when a new line combination clicked. Craig Mactavish put Smyth on with Dvorak and Nedved and this lead to the construction of a York-Oates-Pisani trio. Pisani and Oates cycled down low and eventually York gathered the puck and spun and threw it over a flopping Brent Johnson who was manning the Yotes twine.

Edmonton had no awnser for the Nash-Langkow-Doan trio and the line had 12 shots which was lead by Doan with a whopping eight marks on net. That line tied the score 6:47 into the third period but Ulanov's goal quelled the tide and the Oilers added insurance a scant 29 seconds later when Nedved scored off a Bergeron rush to seal it.

One of these days someone will really dig into why Glen Sather dealt with all of the remaining six Canadian teams when he dismantled his Rangers. In fact just for good measure he even dealt the Avs, nee the old Nords a third line grinder in the person of Matthew Barnaby. But the Oilers gift was special as Sather paid the rest of Petr's '04 freight and threw in Markkanen to boot.

It was the best thing Slats has done for Edmonton since he walked away from the president/general manager's seat.

And currently the Oilers are enjoying many happy returns.

Three Stars

Shane Doan - Two goals, eight shots and 25:37 of icetime.

Petr Nedved - A goal and two assists and he now has 13 points in his 13 games as an Oiler.

Jussi Markkanen - He didn't have to be spectacular but he was very solid in the second and third when the Oilers showed a remarkable lack of poise in trying to nail down another home victory

Out of Town Scoreboard

The Blues won again today so the Oilers win this evening ties them with St Louis for 87 points but the Blues have a game in hand and they have two extra victories. The Oilers can win the season series with any kind of a win in St. Louis on Tuesday night but they'll need to have an one more point at season's end so that the first tiebreaker of wins isn't activated. Head to head is the second tiebreaker. The Predators don't play again until Tuesday when they begin a home and home with the Hawks that begins in Nasvhille and concludes in Chicago on Thursday.

Oil Gauge

Folks, do you like your Marc Andre Bergeron? He finished with an assist, was +2 and played 18:07 of icetime. He was looking to jump into the play all night and his rush that lead to the Nedved goal was the best thing the Oilers have seen from the blueline since Poti was in the copper and blue goodbooks.....Steve Staios icetime jumped back over 20 minutes tonight, 20:46 to be exact, and he was also back killing penalties and, gasp, on the PP. The tandem of him and Scott Ferguson were brutal and it's too bad Robert Stack wasn't still alive or we'd have a case for him just to figure out how this duo finishg +1 at the end of the night....A goal and an assist in 14:06 for Pisani who's the latest to keep producing. Ryan Smyth also has 27 points in his last 26 games and those guys formed a nice tandem tonight.

Next Game

Tuesday night at 6PM MST in St. Louis as the Oilers look to crawl into 7th place. This is the biggest regular season game for the Oilers since they clinched a playoff spot late in the '01 season with a 2-2 tie versus the visiting Wild. The Oilers travel to Dallas the next night so two points is a must as they must prepare for something less than two points in Big D. You can see Tuesday night's game on SN West.