Post Game: Game #2 Wild 2 Oilers 1 (S0)

Scoring Summary
1st Period
EDM Ryan Smyth 1 (Eric Belanger, Jordan Eberle) 11:40

2nd Period :
MIN Matt Cullen 3 (Guillaume Latendresse) 8:18

3rd Period
No Scoring


OT Period
No Scoring

Shootout
MIN Matt Cullen shootout goal
EDM Jordan Eberle shootout goal
MIN Pierre-Marc Bouchard shootout saved
EDM Anton Lander shootout saved
MIN Mikko Koivu shootout saved
EDM Taylor Hall shootout miss
MIN Devin Setoguchi shootout goal
EDM Shawn Horcoff shootout saved

Shots On Goal - Oilers 23 Wild 36

Game Notes:
Welp, the Oilers continued their theme of coming out losers in Minnesota, at least this time they go a point out of it. The Oilers gutted out a point but the legs were real heavy by the 3rd period and the ability to make any kind of an offensive play wasn't there. Minnesota out-gameplanned the Oilers on this night, going with a heavy forecheck in the 1st period and wearing out the Oiler defense to the point where they were rendered useless. If the Oilers defense faces much of this kind of abuse, and I'm sure they will, they will need walkers to finish the year. One thing the Oilers will need to address is mobility on the blueline, because without it, they are sitting ducks back there waiting to be crushed. Surprisingly, (sarcasm alert!) Ales Hemsky once again fell victim to a shoulder injury and did not finish the game. No one is real sure when the moment of impact did happen, but all we know is he did not take a shift after the first period. Hemsky's injury didn't help but the Oilers top 2 scoring didn't do much of anything to create offense outside of the 1st period, I expect the blender to come out on the top 2 scoring lines in order to create more offense. 2 goals in 2 games does not bode well for a team that has a lot of offensive skill. They are fortunate to have 3 out of a possible 4 points up to now. I though the line of Paajarvi-Horcoff-Jones were solid when they weren't forced into a mish-mash of line combos after Hemsky went out of the game. They played tough, heady and managed the puck well. Essentially you want that line to play to stalemate with the other teams best line, and they did well on this night.

Player of the Game:
- Nikolai Khabibulin. I hate to have to give the POTG to goaltenders over and over again, but no one really stood out other than Khabibulin. A very large reason the Oilers were fortunate to get a point was because of Khabibulin. The Oilers were outshot 15-1 in the 3rd period. 'Nuff said there. Khabibulin looked real square to the shooters tonight.

Goat of the Game:
- Andy Sutton. No one really played all that poorly. No one really played all that well either. Just a lot of non-descript games from almost everyone in the lineup. I just didn't like the fact that Sutton felt the need to huddle up beside Belanger and Smyth on the blueline and allow a 3 on 1 to occur behind him. Simply put, it was just a bad read.

Next Game - Saturday October 15 2011 vs. the Canucks @ Rexall Place on CBC 8PM MT.