Sports - New York Rangers vs. Edmonton Oilers - 11/3/97

EDMONTON 2, NY RANGERS 2 (OT)
(Box Score)

NEW YORK -- Pat LaFontaine scored the tying goal with 4:50 leftin the second period, and both Mike Richter and Curtis Josephmade big saves down the stretch as the New York Rangers andEdmonton Oilers skated to a 2-2 deadlock. Less than two minutesafter Rem Murray scored to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead, LaFontainegot his eighth goal of the season. LaFontaine fought off a BoydDevereaux check in the slot and redirected Tim Sweeney's pass byJoseph.

The Rangers had all three shots in overtime but Joseph was notcalled upon to make a tough save. Richter and Joseph came up withbig stops toward the end of regulation. Richter stopped ToddMarchant's backhander with 4:25 remaining and denied MatsLindgren's one-timer just over two minutes later. Joseph made apad stop on Wayne Gretzky's wrist shot with 6:58 to play and alsogot his chest on Mike Keane's wrister with 3:59 left.

"It was not a bad tie, the ice was extremely bad, they didn'tchange it from a horse show I think," Joseph said. "It was hardto make a pass on the power play. We got a lucky bounce and theygot a lucky bounce."

Kevin Stevens also tallied for the Rangers, who are winless infour straight (0-2-2). New York is 0-3-2 in its last five homegames against the Oilers since a victory on Feb. 7, 1990.

"It's not a good tie, we needed a win," Rangers coach ColinCampbell said. "We're at home, ties are better than a loss butwe've got to be thinking win. It's frustrating, there wereperiods in the game where we could have gotten our way with aneasy goal. Their first goal was just a terrible defeat by us andthere's no other way to explain it but a huge mistake. We justhaven't got that easy goal, that garbage goal. Everything seemsto have to be a masterpiece, until that happens we're going to bein these tight games."

Joseph finished with 26 saves for Edmonton, which has a loss anda tie on a six-game road trip.

Marchant's second goal with 3:43 left in the first period gavethe Oilers a 1-0 lead. Stevens tied it at 5:58 of the second withhis fifth goal when his pass from the right side of the netcaromed off the skate of Oilers defenseman Drake Berehowsky andpast Joseph. Murray's second goal of the season came with 6:39remaining in the second.

Edmonton Oilers 2, NEW YORK RANGERS 2 (OT)
(Recap)

                    1ST  2ND  3RD  OT    FINAL                    ---  ---  ---  ---   -----EDMONTON             1    1    0    0      2NY RANGERS           0    2    0    0      2
FIRST PERIOD -- SCORING: 1, Edmonton, T Marchant 2 (Lindgren),16:17. PENALTIES: Berg, Nyr (hooking), 0:37; Lindgren, Edm(holding), 4:05; Mironov, Edm (Obstr tripping), 7:52; Lidster,Nyr (cross checking), 10:24; Langdon, Nyr (boarding), 13:41.
SECOND PERIOD -- SCORING: 2, NY Rangers, Stevens 5 (Sundstrom,Gretzky), 5:50. 3, Edmonton, Murray 2 (B Devereaux, Mironov),13:21. 4, NY Rangers, LaFontaine 8 (Sweeney, Leetch), 15:10.PENALTIES: McGillis, Edm (Obstr holding), 6:30; Karpovtsev, Nyr(Obstr hooking), 18:14.
THIRD PERIOD -- SCORING: None. PENALTIES: Mironov, Edm (hooking),1:50; Berehowsky, Edm (roughing), 4:55; LaFontaine, Nyr served byGretzky (cross checking, roughing), 4:55.
OVERTIME -- SCORING: None. PENALTIES: None.
SHOTS ON GOAL                    1ST  2ND  3RD  OT    TOTAL                    ---  ---  ---  ---   -----EDMONTON             5    15   6    0     26NY RANGERS           4    10   11   3     28
POWER PLAY: Edm - 0 of 5, Nyr - 0 of 4. GOALIES: Edmonton, Joseph(28 shots, 26 saves; record: 5-5-2). NY Rangers, Richter (26, 24;record: 3-5-5).
Referee: Trottier. Linesmen: Broseker, Heyer.A:18,200.