Sam Gagner's incredible stretch hasn't been enough for the Edmonton Oilers to end their poor play on the road.
The Ottawa Senators had been having problems on their own ice - and anywhere for that matter - until finally getting some pucks in the net in their last contest.
Gagner tries to continue his recent impressive play and help the Oilers end an eight-game losing streak away from home Saturday when they take on an Ottawa team trying to build on its first win in three weeks.
Fantasy notes: Jordan Eberle has been scoring goals at will lately and he'll be looking to pot his first marker against the Sens in his fourth start against them. Jason Spezza had a pair of assists the last time he faced the Oilers. |
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Edmonton (21-28-5) went 4-0-1 from Jan. 23-Feb. 4 as Gagner had six goals and seven assists, with four of each coming in an 8-4 win over Chicago on Feb. 2.
The Oilers' only loss in that span came in a shootout at Vancouver on Jan. 24, and they've opened their current three-game trip with a pair of defeats to extend their road slide.
Not only has Edmonton lost eight in a row as the visitor, it's also dropped 15 of 16 away from home to fall to 6-20-6 on the road in 2011-12.
Gagner has been doing his best to try to help the Oilers earn a rare road win. He had an assist in Monday's 6-3 loss to Toronto and scored both Edmonton goals in a 4-2 defeat to NHL-leading Detroit on Wednesday.
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The fifth-year center has eight goals and eight assists over his last seven games after recording 20 points in his first 40 contests. He's three goals away from matching his career high of 16 set in 2008-09.
"Obviously, it feels good to produce," Gagner said. "It feels better to win."
Edmonton didn't win in its first matchup with Ottawa (28-22-7) this season, falling 5-2 at home Nov. 17 despite outshooting the Senators 24-16. Gagner missed that game with a sore back.
"They've got a lot of skill over there," right wing Jordan Eberle told the Oilers' official website. "They can shoot the puck, they've got a very good 'D' core. I remember the last time we played them in our rink, we were outshooting them, but we couldn't score and all of a sudden they got two."
Ottawa struggled to score two goals during a seven-game skid, getting held under that number in five of those contests, but found its groove offensively Thursday and snapped the losing streak with a 4-3 win over Nashville.
Defenseman Chris Phillips scored his first two goals of the season in his 1,000th NHL game, and Jason Spezza also scored twice while adding an assist as the Senators also ended a four-game home losing streak.
"It's tough to stop losing streaks and we did that tonight," Spezza said. "When you're winning games it seems like it's easy to win them, and when you're losing games it seems like you keep finding a way to lose. So to dig ourselves out of that hole (Thursday), hopefully we can springboard it and have a good one on Saturday."
Spezza had two assists against Edmonton in November as the Senators improved to 10-2-0 with a tie in the series since the start of the 2002-03 season.