Oilers on a Roll

The Edmonton Oilers recent surge couldn’t have come at a better time for their veteran coach Craig MacTavish.

After struggling for the first couple of months, rumors were circulating that MacTavish was on the verge of losing his job. Those rumors have suddenly stopped as the Oilers have slowly began to turn things around.

In extending their winning streak to three games after their 5-2 home win on Sunday night against the Nashville Predators, the Oilers got a huge performance from a couple of key players who have struggled this year.

 One of those was forward Erik Cole who scored a goal and added two assists in what has been a disappointing season for the former Carolina Hurricane.

Cole who came to Edmonton over the summer to add some secondary scoring now has 12 on the year but is feeling confident with the way things have been going for him lately.

“As long as the opportunities are there you are doing the right things to give yourself a chance to be successful,” he said. “Even when you are not scoring you can give a lift to the team.” “But it feels good to contribute the way I did tonight and finish a couple of those opportunities off.”

Playing his best game of the season for Edmonton was sophomore Sam Gagner who scored two points including his third goal of the season. Oilers brass hopes that this is a sign for good things to come from both Cole and Gagner.

MacTavish is not the least bit surprised at how well his team played on Sunday as they are now a game over .500 at home. (6-5-3).

“There were a lot of things about tonight that were the things we anticipated seeing at the beginning of the year,” MacTavish said. “There was lots of skill, lots of puck movement.” “It was one of our better efforts of the year.

Scoring for the Oilers who have now gained points in four straight games was Sheldon Souray, Shawn Horcoff, Andrew Cogliano and Gagner.

“There have been times throughout the year that we have struggled with our consistency,” said Gagner in pin- pointing why the Oilers have underachieved this year.

“We’ll have a few good games and then falter in the next.” “We really wanted to get off to a good start tonight.” “Nashville has proven to be a tough test for us in the past.” “It’s a good feeling in here and we have to make sure we build off of it.”

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