EDMONTON -- After two straight seasons of last-place finishes, the Edmonton Oilers want to prove they are a team on the rise. nfl jerseys china . Sending the soaring Washington Capitals to their first loss of the season will certainly help their cause. Jordan Eberle had a goal and an assist and Nikolai Khabibulin made 34 saves, and the Oilers hung on for dear life to edge the Capitals 2-1 Thursday. "It was a good test," Khabibulin said. "We really wanted to see where were at. So it feels good to beat one of the best teams in the league." Taylor Hall also scored for the Oilers (5-2-2), who have won three in a row. "The three areas where we had difficulty last year won us the game tonight," said Oilers coach Tom Renney, commenting on his teams power play, penalty-killing and goaltending. It was first overall draft pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ninth game and he added an assist to sit at nine points thus far. If he plays a 10th game he will remain with Edmonton for the remainder of the season. Renney has still not officially announced he is staying but Nugent-Hopkins was scheduled to take the trip to Colorado for the Oilers next game on Friday. For now, Nugent-Hopkins said he was just soaking in his teams effort in knocking off the top team in the league. "It was awesome," he said. "They were undefeated coming into tonight so to get a win against a good team tonight was great. We really battled hard tonight. Khabibulin, some of the saves he made for us were ridiculous." Karl Alzner responded for the Capitals, who are one of just 10 teams in NHL history to start a season 7-0. Washington head coach Bruce Boudreau said the Capitals missed their chances to extend their winning streak, largely due to the play of Khabibulin. "I thought we played pretty good in the third period and came at them," he said. "Once that first five minutes went by and we didnt get one with the pressure we had on them and on the first power play in the third when (Khabibulin) made that stop on Dennis Wideman, I thought its going to be hard to score on this guy tonight. We threw everything we could at him." It didnt help the Capitals cause that they gave the Oilers eight power plays to work with. Both Edmonton goals came off of the man advantage. "For whatever reason we took penalties not only in our zone but also in the offensive zone," said Capitals goalie Tomas Vokoun. "Penalties are tough to kill in this league. We had a chance to get a point but they had a bit more puck luck than us. "You cant take that many penalties, no matter who you are playing. It cost us the game in the end." The Capitals went up 1-0 five and a half minutes into the first as Alzner did a good job to keep a puck in at the point and then wound up and blew a shot past Khabibulin. Edmonton came close to tying it up on a similar play by Cam Barker, but his shot hit the post behind Vokoun. The Oilers tied the game with two minutes to play in the opening period on a nice three-way passing play on a four-on-three man advantage. Eberle slid a quick pass through the crease to Hall, who swatted in his third of the season. Edmonton took a 2-1 lead with eight minutes remaining in the second period with another power play goal. A big rebound on a Corey Potter point shot came out to Eberle, who put it into the open net. Washington had a good chance to tie it with four minutes left in the second as Alex Ovechkin picked off a pass in the Edmonton zone for a partial break, but Khabibulin stood his ground to make a kick save. Khabibulin stood on his head for the first five minutes of the third, notably making kick saves on Ovechkin and Backstrom and robbing Wideman on a slapshot. Wideman rang another shot off the post on the power play with four minutes left. The Capitals got another power play in the final minute and pulled Vokoun, but could not get the equalizer. Washington outshot Edmonton 18-6 in the third period. The Oilers travel to Colorado to face the Avalanche on Friday. Washington next plays in Vancouver on Saturday. Notes: It was the only meeting between the two teams this season. The last time they played was a 5-0 victory for the Capitals in Washington last season... Oilers D Ryan Whitney went for an MRI on his sore right knee Wednesday and the word after the game was that he will likely miss three weeks... Caps D Mike Green has not practised this week after suffering an ankle injury in Saturdays win over the Wings. cheap nfl jerseys . 19 Syracuse advanced to the Big East championship game with a 58-55 victory over No. wholesale nfl jerseys . The Hall of Fame defenceman told Landsberg that he believes fighting still has a place in todays game, but thinks staged fighting needs be outlawed. http://www.nfl-jerseyscheap.com/ . Milan announced Wednesday that the players new deals expire on June 30, 2012. There had been speculation that the often-injured Nesta might retire after this season, but the 35-year-old recently indicated he plans to continue playing. nfl jerseys china . Jeff Francis tossed five solid innings and four relievers combined to shut out Philadelphia the rest of the way Thursday night in the Rockies 4-1 victory over the Phillies. cheap football jerseys . As many as 15 teams were in the mix for the 24-year-olds services. Miller played four seasons in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, accumulating 42 goals and 114 assists in 141 games.Canadas National Senior Womens Sevens team suffered an early morning setback in their quest to regain the coveted IRB Challenge Cup; but later rebounded to position themselves well, heading into Sundays action, in London England. The Canadians started well in their first match, quickly running in a score against The Netherlands; a team against which Canada has often had contests in the past. The Canadians were able to take a 14 - 12 lead in to the dying seconds, before a penalty deep in their own end gifted the Dutch a kick at goal for the win. The shock 15 - 14 loss meant that Canada could do no better than to finish fourth on day one; but to do that they would need to rack up big results against both Portugal and Russia. Portugal is a new entry into international womens rugby competition and the Canadians had no difficulty dispatching them in match number two. It is one of the peculiarities of Sevens tournaments that points differential often plays an important role in determining tournament rankings, and the Canadians were ruthless in pursuing the largest possible margin of victory. A 54 - 0 win against the Portuguese took Canada to a 1 - 1 record on Saturday, before they ended their day against a tough Russian side. Canadian veteran Mandy Marchak called the teams match against Russia at the Hong Kong Sevens, one of the most physical contests she could remember. So it was with a sense of mission that Canada entered their final fixture of day one; knowing that a big win was needed to secure them the best possible draw on Sunday. It did not take long for Marchak and her teammates to stamp their authority on the match. Nineteen first half-points were followed by a pair of scores in the second, to see Canada overpower their Russian opponents 29 - 0. The margin of victory was enough to provide the women with fourth position and the match-up they wanted on Sunday morning; when they will take on South Africa, who finished fifth. Head Coach John Tait had these words regarding his teams perrformance on day one, in London. cheap nfl jerseys. "Obviously we did not get the start we wanted against The Netherlands. They are a well-drilled team that has run us close a few times in the last year. It was not a case of us taking them lightly, but of errors in our own execution that compounded into scores for them. The way our team bounced back in the last two games was good to see, and we started to play the way we have been wanting to. We worked hard and gathered enough scores to draw us against South Africa on Sunday morning. They have a few flyers in their squad, but we will look to use our fitness and increase the tempo of the match to suit our style." Should the result against South Africa go Canadas way, the team will then likely be handed a chance to seek revenge against England; the team that defeated them in the Semi-Final of the Hong Kong tournament, last March. Tait was excited that his squad have positioned themselves to possibly take the field against England again, this time at the home of English rugby, Twickenham Stadium, where the semi-final and Grand Final will be played. "Without looking past South Africa, I can say that we have managed to put ourselves in the position we wanted to be in. If we do our jobs, we will have the chance to play England again on their home ground of Twickenham, in front of tens of thousands of people. With the larger stadium pitch, we will be able to use our speed and fitness against them. Being at home and being the defending Challenge Cup holders, the pressure will all be on them." Canadas women will spend Saturday night reviewing video footage of their own performances and those of their likely opponents, but the highlight reel that will motivate them most is the defeat at Hong Kong that has been burned into their memories. Canadas womens sevens stars have been waiting for months for another crack at England and an opportunity to regain their place atop the world of Sevens rugby. Tomorrow will be their chance. ' ' '