Minnesota Wild Beat Division Rival Edmonton Oilers

The Wild beat Edmonton on Wednesday 2-0 giving Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom his second shut-out in three games.  There wasn’t a ton of pressure at the net (Backstrom had 21 saves) thanks to the Wild playing a great defensive game. I actually thought the Oilers would put up more of a fight for the Minnesota Wild, but the Wild clearly have their number (we have won the last 5 match-ups).

On the offensive side, it was nice to see the Marian Gaboriks line step up to the plate - they are the "first" line. I don’t think coach Jacques Lemaire has found "the" right center between Gabby and Pavol Demitra and he tried a few combinations during the Oilers game, the best one from my view was probably Mikko Koivu, but that could be just because Wes Walz isn’t 100% healthy and ready to roll.  Demitra likes Koivu on his line, but he also knows Coach Lemaire likes to tinker until he sees real Minnesota Wild magic on ice.

"I hope they're just going to keep him there for the rest of the season," Demitra said, adding: "We just need a couple games, and he can learn. Just see how Jacques is going to react tomorrow."

Demitra did get his first goal of the season and I think hockey players are a little superstitious as well. The Gaborik Demitra duo has been over shadowed by the success of other lines and I think Demitra was happy they got their moment to shine against the Oilers.  Edmonton Goalie Dwayne Roloson made 24 saves. Minnesota Wild fans should remember Rollie from his days in a Wild sweater, he even played in a couple of playoff games for us one year.

Brent Burns also scored for the Wild. The Wild now start a four games road trip including back to back games on Saturday 9pm CT and the Sunday 7pm CT and of interesting note that second game is against our biggest foes (or fowls) ... Anaheim Ducks (I refuse to say Mighty).