Oilers combat Wild at Rexall Place

Minnesota Wild vs Edmonton Oilers 1-4 (0-1, 0-2, 1-1)

Gilbert Brule remained injured with bruised ribs, but Sam Gagner returned to the lineup following his twisted knee. The result was that Jack Skille was sent back down to Springfield. Jonas Hiller was given the start. The Wild was hovering around 9th, having accumulated a 14-14-2 record so far in the season.

In a military paradox, it was the most bellicose team, Minnesota, who suffered a barrage of hostile fire throughout the first period. While the Wild kept putting themselves in the box, Edmonton released shots from every imaginable angle - and succeeded in beating Bäckström just once in the period.

As Brent Burns failed to clear the puck during a penalty kill, Lubomir Visnovsky scored his 7th of the year with a fierce bullet from the top of the circle. Minnesota kept orchestrating their own demise, taking their 9th minor of the game mid-way through the second, and Edmonton punished them with their 3rd PP goal of the game.

Patrick O'Sullivan kept the home fans in jubilant moods with the fourth unanswered goal, also on the power play. The first power play unit was having a field day. Mikko Koivu added a PP goal of their own late on, but nothing could cover up the putrid odour of failure on part of the away team.

Post game: When asked to sum up the game, head coach Kevin Constantine responded by saying "Excuse the metaphor, but we did not win this one, Minnesota came in and committed suicide". A massive 15 minor penalties taken by the Wild ensured the win almost by itself. Lubomir Visnovsky directed the battle from his blueline vantage-point throughout the affair and it allowed Edmonton to outmanouvre, outplay and outwit their opponents.


Scoreboard
1st Period:
EDM - O'Sullivan (Hemsky, Visnovsky) PP

2nd Period:
EDM - Visnovsky (-) PP
EDM - Hemsky (O'Sullivan, Visnovsky) PP

3rd Period:
EDM - O'Sullivan (Gagner, Hemsky) PP
MIN - Koivu (Preissing, Mara) PP


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky
Cogliano - Laich - O'Sullivan
Axelsson - Krysanov - Moore
Moreau - Falardeau - Stone

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Yonkman

Hiller
(Khabibulin)