Jacob Trouba Winnipeg 26 3 7 10 49.6% -2.3% 23:17 Morgan Rielly

EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers seem to have solved their problems in net and have been getting some positive results because of it. Jordan Eberle had a pair of goals and an assist and Viktor Fasth made 28 saves as the Oilers continued to put crimps in other teams playoff plans, coming away with a 5-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. Sam Gagner, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Taylor Hall also scored for the Oilers (25-36-9), who have won two in a row and gone 10-4-3 in their past 17 games, and at least temporarily moved past Florida into third-last in the NHL. Much of the progress the Oilers have made of late has been since trading Devan Dubnyk and Ilya Bryzgalov away and bringing in Fasth and Ben Scrivens. "There are no soft goals with them," Hall said. "Im sure everyone around the room will tell you. You just play with more confidence. You arent afraid to make that little play that could turn into a big offensive chance when you know that you have guys like Viktor and Ben back there. It is a huge boost going into games knowing that we are going to give up chances, but we have good goalies in net." Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins said his new goaltending tandem has made an immediate impact. "Its been perfect," he said. "The great thing is I think they have become friends right away and are helping and supporting each other, which is so important. There is competition going on at the same time. The better the one plays spurs on the other and they are just going to keep pulling each other to the top. Our goaltending has just been fabulous." Gabriel Bourque replied for the Predators (29-30-10) who have lost two in a row and are in serious jeopardy of missing the playoffs for the second year in a row as they are nine points out of the last post-season berth in the West with just 13 games remaining on the schedule. "It wasnt a good effort, we didnt do too many good things out there, we turned the puck over," said Nashville assistant captain Mike Fisher. "We didnt do too many good things defensively and they buried them when they got chances. They played pretty well." Predators head coach Barry Trotz said it was not the kind of effort his team can afford to have right now. "I just thought that we didnt have enough urgency from enough guys and we need guys to step up," he said. "I thought our best players were some of our young guys. We have to give our goalie some run support, we have to be better defensively than that and our special teams have to be at least even every night." Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne allowed five goals on 26 shots and was pulled midway through the third period. "It was obviously not the best game for myself," he said. "Im disappointed for sure. Its the way it goes I guess once in a while, but its not acceptable. Its a little bit embarrassing too, but its over with now." The game started on a rough note just 48 seconds in as Predators defenceman Ryan Ellis pasted Eberle into the boards on a cross-check from behind, igniting a scrum. The Predators came close with five minutes remaining in the first period as they took a bit of a surprise shot on Oilers goalie Viktor Fasth that he got a piece of with his glove before looking like an offensive lineman and preventing Patric Hornqvist from getting to the rebound in the crease. Edmonton broke the scoreless deadlock with 35 seconds left in the opening frame as the rebound from a Martin Marincin point shot came to Gagner in the blue paint and he hooked a backhand shot past Predators goalie Pekka Rinne. It was just Gagners eighth goal of the season. The Preds came close to tying the game four minutes into the second, but a Nick Spaling shot rang off the post. Edmonton made it a 2-0 game eight minutes into the second as Eberle made a long cross-ice pass through traffic on the power play to Nugent-Hopkins, who wrested a shot that went off the tip of Rinnes glove and in. It was the 16th goal of the season for Nugent-Hopkins, breaking a 15-game scoreless drought. The Oilers took a three-goal lead on a bit of an unusual play with five minutes left in the second period as Hall took a backhand golf swing of a shot that found the top corner and quickly exited the net. Play continued for 1:17 before the Oilers took a penalty and they were able to review the shot and determine it was a goal. "I thought I saw the net bulge," Hall said. "The ref was standing right there with a really good vantage point and I thought if it was in that he would have seen it. It was a weird shift keeping going after that when you think you have scored and you are just hoping for a whistle to blow to see if you have a goal or not." Nashville got on the board with 1:21 remaining in the second as Hornqvist took the puck behind the net before hooking it in front to Bourque, who sent a shot through traffic to beat Fasth. Edmonton made it 4-1 eight-and-a-half minutes into the third period with another power-play goal. Anton Lander picked up his first point of the season on a nice feed to Eberle at the side of the net as he lifted a backhand shot that ticked off of Rinne and in. Eberle scored his second goal of the game just 1:23 later, breaking into the Nashville zone with speed and scoring his 23rd of the season on a low backhand shot. "We have been trying to get some confidence in little things and tonight we started to bear down and found some ways to score, especially on the power play," Eberle said. "It definitely gives you some confidence and it was nice to get out of the hole there." Rinne was replaced by backup Carter Hutton for the remainder of the game. The Predators play the second match of their four-game road trip in Vancouver on Wednesday night. The Oilers welcome the Buffalo Sabres for the second game of their six-game homestand on Thursday. Notes: It was the third and final meeting of the season between Edmonton and Nashville. The Oilers also won the two previous games by a combined score of 8-1a Including the Nashville game, 10 of Edmontons final 13 games are at homea Edmonton goalie Viktor Fasth made his home debut in net for the Oilers after being acquired the day before the trade deadline from the Anaheim Ducksa Predators defenceman Roman Josi entered the game with four assists in his previous three games. ... Nashville had no reported injuries for the gamea Edmonton forward Jesse Joensuu (ankle) is likely out for the remainder of the season, as is defenceman Anton Belov (partially torn oblique)a Edmonton forward Nail Yakupov was a late scratch with an ankle problem after taking the pre-game skate. The Oilers dressed seven defencemen in his absencea Oiler forward Matt Hendricks left the game with a leg injury after blocking a Shea Weber shot and did not return. Addison Russell Cubs Jersey . Two weeks after suffering a concussion, Foles will start in place of Michael Vick, who is out for the second time this season with a hamstring injury. Kyle Schwarber Jersey . - Florida State has suspended Jameis Winston for the entire game against Clemson on Saturday, extending its initial punishment of one half after the quarterback made offensive and vulgar comments about female anatomy earlier this week. http://www.cubsauthentic.com/cubs-albert-almora-jr-jersey/. -- David Price didnt think he would be in Port Charlotte this spring. Anthony Rizzo Cubs Jersey . The club was unable to retain hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, who is bound for Atlanta. Seitzer replaces Greg Walker, who was assisted by Scott Fletcher this season as the Braves finished 79-83. David Ross Cubs Jersey .J. -- Patrick Sharp is on one of those streaks.A promising young defenceman for the Jets, a scoring winger is resurrected for the Blackhawks, and continued problems for an Oilers blueliner; Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Jacob Trouba – The second-year defenceman was a force for the Jets recording a goal and two assists, with eight shot attempts (5 SOG) and team-best possession (28 for, 17 against, 62.2%) while playing 23:33 in a 3-2 overtime win against Edmonton. Here’s a look at Trouba and other defencemen under the age of 21 that have been regulars in the league this season: Under-21 Defencemen DEFENCEMAN TEAM GP G A PTS CORSI% CORSIREL% ATOI Aaron Ekblad Florida 23 4 9 13 50.9% +1.4% 21:35 Damon Severson New Jersey 25 4 6 10 52.2% +1.8% 23:07 Jacob Trouba Winnipeg 26 3 7 10 49.6% -2.3% 23:17 Morgan Rielly Toronto 23 3 6 9 49.2% +3.4% 18:06 Olli Maatta Pittsburgh 18 1 7 8 51.7% +0.6% 20:37 Seth Jones Nashville 24 0 5 5 54.5% +1.6% 17:46 Mathew Dumba Minnesota 20 1 3 4 53.6% +0.9% 12:30 Rasmus Ristolainen Buffalo 25 1 3 4 38.7% +1.8% 19:30 Mirco Mueller San Jose 21 1 2 3 52.1% -0.5% 17:27 Nikita Zadorov Buffalo 14 0 1 1 43.2% +7.1% 17:37 Kris Versteeg – The 28-year-old winger has found a home on Chicago’s second line, with Brad Richards and Patrick Kane and Versteeg had a goal and two assists in Wednesday’s 4-1 win over St. Louis. Since November 1, Versteeg has been one of the most productive scorers in the league, with lots of that production coming at 5-on-5. 5-on-5 Scoring Since November 1 PLAYER TEAM GP G A PTS EV PTS/60 Vincent Trocheck Florida 14 2 9 11 3.90 Brad Richards Chicago 14 5 5 10 3.74 Tyler Johnson Tampa Bay 15 5 7 12 3.64 Kris Versteeg Chicago 14 3 8 11 3.59 Tyler Seguin Dallas 15 8 5 13 3.52 Wayne Simmonds – The Flyers right winger buried a couple goals, including the tying goal in the final seconds, registering 11 shot attempts (7 SOG) in the Flyers’ 5-4 shootout loss at Anaheim. He leads the Flyers with 10 goals and his 21 penalty minutes in 25 games this season is a career-low pace. ZEROES Justin Schultz – Edmonton’s troubled blueliner was buried in his own end (7 shot attempts for, 25 against, 21.9%) against Winnipeg. Schultz is down to 49.0% Corsi for the season, but it’s trending the wrong way, down to 44.7% over the past two weeks. Jaden Schwartz – One of the Blues’ better players this season, Schwartz didn’t manage a shot attempt in 16:49 during a 4-1 loss at Chicago and was a team-worst 34.dddddddddddd% (8 shot attempts for, 15 against) in terms of even-strength shot attempts. Alex Galchenyuk, Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher – The Canadiens line was stuck in the defensive zone – all three at 28% or fewer shot attempts – in a 2-1 loss at Minnesota, despite starting more than half of their shifts in the offensive zone. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Jordan Eberle – Played 15:35 at Winnipeg, his second-lowest ice time of the season, while Tyler Pitlick played 18:07, skating with Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Corey Crawford – Chicago’s goaltender will be out at least a couple of weeks with an ankle injury, suffered at a concert. Antti Raanta gets first crack at starting in Crawfords absence, with Scott Darling recalled from the AHL to fill the backup role. SHORT SHIFTS Jets RW Dustin Byfuglien tallied a goal and an assist in the Jets’ 3-2 win over Edmonton. After a slow start to the season, Byfuglien is picking up the pace, with five points (3 G, 2 A) in the past six games. Ducks C Ryan Getzlaf (one goal and one assist) and RW Corey Perry (two assists) each had a couple points in a 5-4 shootout win against Philadelphia…Blackhawks RW Patrick Kane scored a pair of goals in Chicago’s 4-1 win over St. Louis, giving him 15 points (8 G, 7 A) in the past nine games. Blackhawks G Antti Raanta had 40 saves on 41 shots in a 4-1 win over St. Louis…Canadiens G Carey Price stopped 33 of 35 shots in a 2-1 loss at Minnesota…Wild G Darcy Kuemper turned back 18 of 19 shots faced for the win. The Wild fourth line of Erik Haula, Ryan Carter and Justin Fontaine controlled possession against Montreal, with Haula and Fontaine driving 80% of shot attempts (12 for, 3 against) despite starting only one-third of shifts in the offensive zone. FANTASY FOCUS It’s a busy night, with 11 games on the schedule, here are a handful of players to consider for your lineup: Nick Spaling – With Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis out, Spaling is skating with Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist, and played a season-high 20:13 last game. Michael Ryder – With barely enough healthy bodies, look for Ryder to get back into the lineup after a healthy scratch last game. Only three Devils forwards have more points than Ryder’s 12 and one of them, Jaromir Jagr, is not expected to play due to illness. Stephen Weiss – Six points in six games this season and the Red Wings are hosting the defensively-questionable Stars, with Jussi Rynnas making his first NHL start since March, 2012. Vincent Trocheck – Forcing his way into a bigger role by actually scoring, Trocheck has 11 points (2 G, 9 A) in 14 games this season and played a season-high 15:33 last game. Daniel Briere – Not a long-term solution, but he does have three goals in the past four games and has averaged more than 17 minutes per game in the past five. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '