After a dominant first from the visitors, the second period went the other way on Wednesday night as Edmonton put 31 shot attempts and 21 scoring chances towards goal compared to Chicago's 9 and 4, respectively. The Oilers had the first 12 shots of the period en route to a 20-6 advantage in pucks that got to the net in the middle 20.
The Blackhawks bent, but didn't break, in large part due to the standard stellar play from Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes. He even made a goal-line save with the paddle of his stick seconds before the Oilers lone goal off the ensuing rebound. Had it not been for the quick put-back goal, it would've been the highlight of the night.
"That was huge. That's what he does, he keeps us in games," King said of his netminder's play in the second. "We played a real good first period, he made some saves when he needed them. Second period, we needed him alert and sharp and he was. He was outstanding. And the third period we cleaned it up for him."
"We kind of weathered the storm in the second period," Strome said. "They're a good hockey team and they had a good push and Flower made some big saves and the defensemen stepped up had some huge blocks. (We) stuck with it and it paid off in the third."
Strome scored 1:08 into the third on the power play to get things going back the other way and Chicago never looked back.
Despite the team playing on its heels for the middle 20, not only did Fleury save shots in the crease, he kept things light while the team figured out their game in front of him.
"I think the cool thing about it is I don't think I've ever seen anyone have as much fun on the ice as that guy," Strome added. "He's always yelling, he's hugging his posts, he's rubbing his posts, he's doing all sorts of things out there and every time he makes a save he's loud and yelling and happy, it's fun to be around. It gives you a confidence boost when you're on the ice and you hear him cheering for himself after he makes a save. He's a heck of a teammate and we're very lucky to have him."
