Oilers provide hockey mayhem in Minnesota

Edmonton Oilers vs Minnesota Wild 4-3 (1-0, 2-1, 1-2)

The Oilers made numerous lineup-changes following the defeat in St. Louis, including introducing defenseman Jeff Petry to the roster - taking Nolan Yonkman's place on the third pairing. Gilbert Brule featured on the second line right wing, while Cogliano pushed Krysanov out of the lineup by taking his 3rd line center role. The Wild were desperately in need of points to fuel any hope of a playoff drive, holding a 26-31-5 record for 14th place, 9 points out of 8th. the Oilers were still holding down 5th place, but were surrounded by increasingly close challengers.

Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen stated that "The great secret of power is never to will to do more than you can accomplish". The Oilers' will was within what they could accomplish, but only barely. In an absolute blitz they fired away 22 shots on net in the first, only allowing three. In 3 power plays they kept the Wild under constant pressure. The won over 80% of the faceoffs to boot. Nevertheless, there was, miraculously, just a goal between the two - Dustin Penner managed to beat Bäckström on a backhand shot from in close.

The Wild appeared to have made no qualified attempt to regroup during the intermission, as the Oilers kept streaking in on the net every chance they got, with flair unparalleled so far in the season. Greg Moore added to the score on the power play after four minutes, and surging acquisition Eric Tangradi made it 3-0 just minutes after. Though the Wild drew within two, the period ended with the away team comfortably in control.

An early power play marker allowed the home fans to regain some faith in the third, Pierre-Marc Bouchard's goal was both important and memorable. He humiliated the defense with some amazing moves before obliterating the net with a rare slap shot. Even so, the Oilers kept pouring it on, and the blades of their sticks must have been melting from the frequent friction. With a minute to go the shot advantage was 55 to 15. Only when the stellar Bäckström was pulled did the Oilers add a 4th, but even that was matched by a 6-on-5 goal by the Wild. Still, the victory ended up in the hands of the visitors.

Post game: "How this came to be a close game I will never know" stated a humorous GM Kowalski after the win, but he quickly added how the Oilers need to become much more proficient in these types of games, because the Wild were allowed to keep things close on the scoreboard when it was not anywhere else. Young power forward Eric Tangradi tallied his 7th point in 9 games, but has amassed a miserable -6 in that time as well.

Scoreboard
1st Period:
EDM - Penner (Hemsky, Grebeshkov)

2nd Period:
EDM - Moore (Hemsky) PP
EDM - Tangradi (Hemsky, Visnovsky) PP
MIN - Greene (Bouchard)

3rd Period:
MIN - Bouchard (Sturm, MacDonald) PP
EDM - Cogliano (Axelsson, Moore) EN
MIN - Chistov (Bouchard, Zherdev)


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky
Tangradi - Laich - Brule
Axelsson - Cogliano - Moore
Moreau - Falardeau - O'Marra

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Petry

Khabibulin
(Hiller)