Wild affair in Xcel Energy Center

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

Minnesota had not improved their position to any significant degree since the last matchup between these two, hovering around an unimpressive 11th place with 21-23-3 for 45 points. Edmonton, on the other hand, came into this one rolling like a massive boulder with 5 straight wins, holding a suprisingly solid 5th place, 4 points ahead of 6th place San José. The Oilers iced an unchanged lineup from the team that routed arch-rivals Calgary a few days ago.

With Todd Richards ferociously matching lines, Edmonton took early advantage of a so-called checking line consisting of Chistov-Hilbert-Boogard. Hemsky's speed allowed him to get in on an odd-man rush before dishing a nice saucer pass to Gagner who fed upon the Czech's menu with ease. The Wild responded with a barrage of shots, testing Khabibulin eight times in three minutes following the opening goal, but did not manage to break through in the first.

The home team kept pressuring their visitors from the start in the second, but good shot blocking efforts kept the biggest chances from conjuring. Instead, a rather uncharacteristic net-drive allowed Ales Hemsky to score, taking a pass from Penner and deflecting it past Bäckström. The Wild finally got on the board with 7 minutes remaining in the period, as former Oiler Kyle Brodziak capitalized on a nice Hossa pass. Suddenly, the dynamic of the game changed, and Zherdev put up a second within a minute for Minnesota, levelling the score before the third.

Edmonton was sucked into the vortex created by the sudden change in momentum late in the middle frame, and into the whole went their defensive posture - something both Brent Burns and Marco Sturm exploited. There was no coming back from the collapse, and the game faded out as Edmonton's win streak was snapped.

Post game: "We were lucky to still be leading half-way through" noted head coach Constantine about the game, "and we looked paralyzed when they finally scored one". A fine start could not cover an ugly end, though there was really no individuals to blame, but rather a slow collective meltdown.

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

2nd Period:
EDM - Hemsky (Penner, Grebeshkov)
MIN - Brodziak (Hossa)
MIN - Zherdev (Sturm)

3rd Period:
MIN - Burns (Bouchard)
MIN - Sturm (Koivu, Helm)


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky
Cogliano - Laich - O'Sullivan
Moore - Krysanov - Brule
Moreau - Falardeau - O'Marra

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Yonkman

Khabibulin
(Hiller)