Well folks. This game is just like the rest of them. It's another must win. I mean come on. At this time of year, every game is a must win. Even for the top teams. Detroit and San Jose are 2 points away from each other. The have must wins too. The Oilers should have treated all the games this year as must wins. Maybe then we would be fighting it out with the Wings and Sharks instead of the Ducks and Blues.
Roli starts again...
This is the 1st of six consecutive home games for the Oilers until the end of the season. The Oilers play their last game on the road. They better play well or the fans are going to be quite vocal. Go Oilers!
The Oilers were 8th this morning but are now in 9th thanks to a win by the St. Louis Blues. Hope we move back into a playoff spot after this game is over.
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1st Period
The game has a good pace to it. Penner fires the 1st shot at 3:51 and it was a good one. O'Sullivan to Penner. They end up playing for 4:14 with out a whistle to start the period off. But wouldn't you know it... Moreau takes a tripping penalty by sticking out his leg and trips up Belanger. PP for the Wild. The Oilers do kill it off but the Wild score after it expires. Gaborik whiffs on a shot and Brunette picks it up and puts it by Roli. That was Souray's guy and he was just standing there. WTF?!? *shakes head* 1-0 Wild at 7:01. Not cool guys. The 1st line comes out and has a great shift. The 2nd line comes roaring out and gets hemmed in in their own zone. O'Sullivan gets nailed from behind and there is no call. Gagner takes exception and tries to fight Miettinen and he pusses out. At that second the Wild fire a point shot and score. Damn! 2-0 Wild at 8:52. What is going on here? The defense corps are not looking all that hot right now. At 11:34, John Scott (6'8" 250 lbs) drops the gloves with Stortini. Good fight. Scott lands some hard punches but Storts takes him down. Pretty even. Weller takes down Hemsky and the Oilers go on the PP at 14:06. The Wild kill it off although Gagner had some great chances. He sure is buzzing in the 1st. Smid is also playing good so far. 8-8 are the shots.
2nd period
19 seconds into the 2nd the Oilers get a PP opportunity. O'Sullivan has a great chance. There was a scrum after the whistle and somehow Cogliano gets a roughing penalty at 2:05. The Oilers do a good job and kill it off. Around the 5:30 mark, Smid goes into the boards awkwardly and hurts his left hand. He goes off and into the dressing room for further examination. Hope it isn't to bad. MacT has changed the centers. 21, 89, 83 and 27, 10, 19. The other two lines don't change. There was another non-call as Scott hits Grebeshkov from behind. There sure is some nice hits being thrown around. With 7:45 left the score is still 2-0 Wild. The game play is still flowing well. At 17:26 Hemsky gets a partial break and can't quite stop and runs into Backstrom. Penalty for Hemmer. Come on refs. So the Wild get another PP and the Oilers kill it off again. With the period over the shots are still tied at 17-17.
3rd Period
My wife is predicting Stortini to score here in the 3rd. Yeah! Pisani scores. 2-1 Wild. (Pisani from Moreau and Grebeshkov at 1:04) Moreau takes the puck and goes coast to coast and as he is skating behind the net he throws it out front. Pisani whacks at it and it goes in. The crowd is fired up now. It was announced 3 minutes into the 3rd the Smid broke his left hand. Ouch! Poor guy. *edit: He may require surgery on his wrist* Souray takes a Wild player down and the ref puts up his arm. Damn it Souray. We were gaining momentum. But with the refs arm still up, the Wild have 6 guys out and they (Gaborik) score at 4:13. Damn!!! 3-1 Wild. Booooooo! The 4th line comes out and rocks a good shift and they draw a penalty. PP time for the Oilers. During the PP Hemsky gets into a punching in the face match with Zidlicky and open a cut on his nose at 6:23. He looks pissed about it. But it was nice to see him actually stick up for himself for once. Maybe it will fire him up now? MacT seems to be rolling Horcoff back on the #1 unit as Gagner is getting pushed around a bit and they don't need him and Hemmer as softies on the same line. All 4 lines seem to be getting shifts in the 3rd. Kotalik rips one in. Yeah! 3-2 Wild. (Kotalik from Hemsky and Horcoff at 15:08.) Let's Go Oilers!!! They are really pressing now. The 1st line gets another good chance and crash the net. What an exciting period. With 2 minutes left the 3rd line has great chances but can't score. 1:00 minute left and the Oilers pull Roli. 21, 10, 83, 89, 44, 37 are all out there. The Oilers have 3.1 seconds left to try and it win it after an icing call. Timeout Oilers. The Oilers win the faceoff but it hops out of the zone and the game is over. Boooooooo!
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Tonight's Starting Lines
Kotalik Horcoff Hemsky
Penner Gagner O'Sullivan
Moreau Cogliano Pisani
Jacques Brodziak Stortini
Souray Staios
Grebeshkov Gilbert
Smid Strudwick
Roloson
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FINAL SCORE
Minnesota Wild - 3
Edmonton Oilers - 2
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BEERS
Ales Kotalik - He took 7 shots and did score a nice bomb of a goal. He played a pretty good game but kind of disappeared in the 2nd. But he was back in the 3rd and helped the Oilers charge for a win. For having a great game... Have a frosty. Cheers!
Ales Hemsky - Hemmer had a fine game. He was in a scuffle, he was crashing the net, he was making nice passes (Kotalik goal) and he was trying to make a difference. And he stuck up for himself. That made smile. About time. For a great game and a fantastic effort... It's Miller Time. Cheers!
Zack Stortini - I thought that Storts was great. Sure he didn't score like the wife had wanted him to but he did his job well. He agitated the Wild. He fought. He hit guys. What else can we ask of him? A Budweiser for Storts? Cheers!
Honorable Mentions - Sam Gagner (Sure he was out muscled a few times but he played good. Smart plays but needs to shoot more. I liked how he tried to fight and stick up for O'Sullivan.), Patrick O'Sullivan (He had some great chances and had 5 shots.), Shawn Horcoff (Played well earning an assist and also took a few of shots with 5. He had a good night on the dot as he was 68% on the faceoffs), Kyle Brodziak (Had a great night on the faceoff dot. 6 and 1 for 86%.), Ladislav Smid (He was one of the best guys on defense untill he was hurt. We will miss the Spaz.), Ethan Moreau (He led the team with 4 hits. He played pretty good tonight.)
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JEERS
Sheldon Souray - BTP. Bad Timing Penalties. Him aand Moreau are getting really bad for this. We score and get it to 2-1 and you take a lazy crap penalty. The Wild score before you even get to the box. WTF?!? That was a bad meltdown for Souray. That happens in the playoffs and the game/season will be over. Shape up man. Booooooooo!
The Entire Team - Where is that 3rd period game during the whole game? The playoffs must be over rated huh? Don't really want to get there? Time is running out and there is no "off periods". Chalk up another "must win" in the loss coloum. Booooooooooo!
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We started in 8th and now we are 10th. Great going guys. I guess you all would rather be golfing? Next game is Tuesday against the Ducks. See you all then.
Cut Craig MacTavish loose. He was a good coach for a long time but the organization needs fresh blood. Hire Pat Quinn and trade Penner who deserves better than what he got this year.
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