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Tuesday, Dec. 21 9:00pm ET
Oilers blitz Capitals 6-2 | |||||
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BOX SCORE
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- The Edmonton Oilers used their special-teams squads to beat the Washington Capitals. Bill Guerin, Jim Dowd and Ryan Smyth each scored power-play goals as the Oilers extended their unbeaten streak to three games with a 6-2 victory over the Capitals on Tuesday night. "Everyone knows the key in this league is specialty teams," said Dowd, who also had an assist. "The key is to have five guys working in unison. The guys were skating and working together." Tom Poti and Todd Marchant also scored for the Oilers. "We literally had all 20 guys contributing," Dowd said. "I revert to when I played in New Jersey. Everybody contributes (with the Devils). There are no individuals. That's the way it is with the top six or seven teams in the league." Edmonton, outshot 28-25, took a 3-1 lead in the first period. Poti opened the scoring 3:17 into the game after teammate Chad Kilger hit a post. Guerin tipped in a wrist shot from the point by Poti on a power play at 7:40. Poti's assist was one of five by Edmonton defensemen. "We have such talent on defense," Guerin said. "They had a great game and all contributed." Jeff Halpern took a perfect pass from James Black for a short-handed breakaway and cut the Edmonton lead to 2-1 at 14:41. But Dowd restored the two-goal margin on a power play at 16:06 off a setup by Janne Niinimaa. "We're so close to getting over that hump," Dowd said. "We've got to keep going." Chris Simon made it 3-2 with a shot from the slot that beat goalie Tommy Salo at 4:37 of the second. But 39 seconds later, Guerin scored his second of the game and eighth of the season. Guerin took a pass from Pat Falloon and his quick release from the slot surprised goalie Craig Billington. "We made some positional mistakes," Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. "A couple of guys were not playing our system and it caught up with us. When (defenseman) Brendan Witt went down in the first period, that really hurt. He's probably our best penalty killer." Witt left with strained ribs in the first period and did not return. He is day-to-day. Smyth scored the Oilers' third power-play goal at 9:52 of the second, chasing Billington for Olaf Kolzig. Billington gave up five goals on 13 shots. "The situation we're in now, we have to have the lead, or be even, after the first period," said Wilson, when it was mentioned the Caps were playing without 13-goal scorer Peter Bondra. Marchant took advantage of a turnover in the Washington zone to score on a one-timer at 4:12 of the third period. "We came out hard in the third and scored another one," Dowd said. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Washington Clubhouse Edmonton Clubhouse RECAPS Nashville 3 Boston 1
Edmonton 6 AUDIO/VIDEO   Jim Dowd puts the Oilers up 3-1 with the slapper.avi: 580 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||