Lightning cracked in shootout
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- Jordan Eberle, Linus Omark and Nikolai Khabibulin stole a point for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Eberle and Omark -- a Swede making his NHL debut -- scored in a shootout and Khabibulin starred in regulation and overtime and stopped both Tampa Bay attempts in the tiebreaker to give the Edmonton Oilers their fifth victory in six games, 4-3 over the Lightning on Friday night.
Eberle opened the shootout by beating Dan Ellis with a wrist shot after a series of high-speed dekes, and Omark ended it in the third round, spinning around in the high slot, faking a slap shot and firing a snap shot through Ellis' legs.
"I'm glad it is over," Omark said. "I was nervous in the beginning. In the next game, I won't be. I know I can do something at this level now, so that's good."
Khabibulin stopped Marc-Antoine Pouliot's backhander in the first round, then caught Lightning star Steven Stamkos' close-range slap shot in the second.
Khabulin made 38 saves in regulation and overtime. Tampa Bay outshot Edmonton 17-1 in the third.
"We dodged a bullet tonight," Oilers coach Tom Renneu said. "Tampa may have deserved a better fate. Khabibulin was outstanding. We scored some timely goals but turned the puck over a lot."
Stamkos tied it midway through the third, ending a six-game goal drought with his 22nd of the season.
"I don't know if they even got a shot in the third period," Stamkos said. "We absolutely dominated them. Their goalie made some big saves. We didn't deserve that kind of fate tonight. We got the point, we battled back, we threw everything at them in the third and they got some big saves."
He's second in the NHL in goals, four behind Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby.
"It's my first little slump. Hopefully, it's the last," Stamkos said. "But it's going to happen. Every player goes through it once in a while, I'd rather get it out of the way in the first half of the season and bear down in the next couple games."
Ryan Malone and Randy Jones also scored in regulation for the Lightning.
Rookie star Taylor Hall scored his 10th goal for Edmonton, and Magnus Paajarvi and Tom Gilbert added goals.
"We need those points," Hall said. "You never know what points are going to matter at the end of the year."
On Tuesday night, the Oilers lost to Anaheim in the 10th round of a shootout.
NOTES: The Oilers are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and 11-12-5 overall. ... The Lightning (15-10-4) have lost two in a row and five of their last seven. ... It was the only meeting this season between the teams. ... Omark was called up from the Oilers' AHL affiliate in Oklahoma City along with Ryan O'Marra to replace injured forwards Ales Hemsky and Shawn Horcoff.
Updated December 10, 2010