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 The Devils scored twice in the second period at Rexall Place,
which was all they needed to post a 2-0 victory over the Oilers.
Center Adam Henrique and left winger Tuomu Ruutu were the goal
scorers.
Goaltender Cory Schneider, making his 20th consecutive start, had
the 29-save shutout for New Jersey.
"It was a big game," said Schneider. "We weren't real happy with our
last game (a 3-1 loss in Winnipeg). This is going to be a big road
trip for us and to get even so far on the trip is important for us."
The Devils had little trouble solving the slumping Oilers to improve
to 9-9-2.
"We had a good effort tonight across the board," said Devils coach
Peter DeBoer. "I particularly liked our second period. I thought we
got through the first period, but I thought our second period we
started playing like we really needed to play. We're grinding, we
played hard in their end. We didn't give them much and that has to
be our game."
 The Oilers extended their losing streak to five games, falling to
6-12-2 on the season. They haven't won at home since Oct. 27 against
Montreal.
"We keep talking about how much better we are this year, but for me
it's the same record we had last year," said Oilers winger David
Perron.
"It's not better. It's turnovers. It's (trying) one-on-threes. It's
jumping up in the play for no reason. Something has to change. When
you are making those mistakes, something needs to happen. It's
mistakes we were doing last year."
Both teams eased their way into this one, with the Devils failing to
register a single shot on net until the 12-minute mark of the first
period, a dump in from the blueline. The Oilers failed to register a
single shot on a pair of first period power plays.
The Oilers also came up empty on a four-minute power play in the
third as their power play, a sore spot all season, let them down
again.
"We can't get anything going, I don't know what it is," said right
winger Jordan Eberle. "We had a chance in the first to create some
momentum and in the third we had those four-minutes... in my mind
the power play is something that's really hurting us."
The Devils pulled away in the second, outshooting the Oilers 19-8
and outscoring them 2-0 on goals from Henrique at 10:39 and Ruutu at
15:07.
Henrique slipped past Oilers defenseman Justin Schultz and scored on
a breakaway and Ruutu walked over the blue line and put a simple
looking wrist shot over the shoulder of Oilers goaltender Viktor
Fasth.
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"The first period we took some penalties and we knew they were going
to start fast," said DeBoer. "This is an important game for them,
they're a desperate team over there. We expected a push in the first
period and we felt in the second it was our turn to push back a
little bit and I thought we did that."
Edmonton pressed hard in the third, outshooting New Jersey 13-3, but
they couldn't find one goal, let alone two.
"They're a dangerous team, we know they've been struggling a little
bit too," said Schneider. "We knew we were going to get a good
effort from them and they pushed hard, especially in the third
period. I thought we did a great job of bending and not breaking and
then battling back."
The news went from bad to worse for Edmonton as they learned that
right winger Benoit Pouliot broke his foot in the second period
while blocking a shot.
NOTES: Devils G Cory Schneider made his 20th-consecutive start,
breaking the New Jersey franchise record held by Martin Brodeur for
consecutive starts to begin a season. ... Oilers D Martin Marincin,
who'd been a healthy scratch for the last two weeks, returned to the
lineup at the expense of D Keith Aulie. ... Oilers coach Dallas
Eakins broke up his top line, moving LW Taylor Hall down to the
second line with rookie C Leon Draisaitl and RW Ted Purcell while LW
Benoit Pouliot joined C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and RW Jordan Eberle on
the top line. The experiment didn't last long, however, as Pouliot
broke his foot blocking a shot early in the second period. ...
Devils LW Dainus Zubrus, who needed four stitches in the mouth after
being hit with the puck last game, was back in the lineup Friday.
... The Devils, who visit Calgary Saturday, are 2-2-0 in the second
of back to back games this year. The Oilers, who host Chicago
Saturday, are 1-3-0.
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