Oilers Continue Slide With 3-2 Loss To Thrashers

Edmonton Oilers continue to slip further in the standings following their loss to the Atlanta Thrashers 3-2 last night. The Oilers slipped to 1-5-1 in their last 7 games with the loss and are now in 12th spot in the Western Conference with St. Louis, Minnesota and Anaheim nipping at their heels. At one point Edmonton was up 2-1 late in the 2nd period, but even a spirited performance by Oilers' netminder Nikolai Khabibulin couldn't keep them in the points race.

Thrashers defenseman Zach Bogosian opened the scoring with his 8th of the season on the power play with Oilers defenseman Steve Staios just about to return. Bogosian who has played in 17 Oilers games needs only one more goal to equal his output last year when he scored 9 goals in 47 Thrashers games. Staios made up for being in the box for that goal by assisting on Shawn Horcoff's tip-in goal 39 seconds into the 2nd period.

Dustin Penner scored his team leading 12th of the year past Thrashers netminder Johan Hedberg to give the Oilers the lead. No other Oiler is even close to Penner's 12 goals, with only Gilbert Brule and Mike Comrie both having 5 each so far in the 2009-10 season. Khabibulin had to practically stand on his head in the 2nd as Atlanta crashed the net time and again. Finally with less than half a minute left in the 2nd, Maxim Afinogenov tied it for the Thrashers with a power play goal that beat Khabibulin.

In the 3rd, Slava Kozlov finally broke his scoring drought with his 1st of the year to give Atlanta the win. Kozlov is getting up there (he's 37 years old) so maybe he might be missing a step or two, but last year he did contribute 76 points.

Oilers coach Pat Quinn looked none to pleased with his team after giving up the lead and losing it in the third. He can't really blame Khabibulin, as he was a standout. Edmonton next travels to Columbus for their game against the Blue Jackets November 16th, while Atlanta are off til Thursday when they host the Boston Bruins.