Potulny capitalizes on call-up

(NHL.com) — It was a special Sunday night for Ryan Potulny and the Edmonton Oilers.

Summoned from the AHL the day before because of numerous injuries, Potulny scored one of Edmonton’s four power-play goals and added an assist as the Oilers pulled off a surprising 5-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center.

The Avalanche, which is tied with San Jose for the most points (26) in the NHL, won all six of its previous games at home while the Oilers had lost five of their first six road games and six of their last seven overall.

Potulny scored what proved to be the decisive goal at 4:44 of the third period when he one-timed Denis Grebeshkov’s pass behind goalie Craig Anderson for a 4-2 lead.

"It felt great to be out there, and to be able to produce and help the team," said Potulny, who centered a line with Ethan Moreau and Zack Stortini. "Any time you can come up and do that, it feels good."

The Oilers, who began the night in a 2-for-17 slump on power plays, went 4-for-7 with the man advantage and connected on all three of their first-period opportunities to build a 3-1 lead.

"It’s big when the power play gets going," Potulny said. "That can win you games, like it showed tonight. It helped us win the game. We talked about it earlier, just moving the puck quick. If you can move it and get them out of position, someone’s going to be open."

Potulny, who had three goals and five assists in 14 games with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons, also picked up an assist on Tom Gilbert’s first-period power-play goal. He had a team-high five shots and was named the game’s first star.

"It has been a pretty exciting 24 hours," Potulny said. "But you don’t try and think about it too much. It’s the game of hockey and you go out and play it like you’ve done your whole life."