Minnesota Wild @ Edmonton Oilers: Game Recap

Minnesota Wild 1-4 Edmonton Oilers (OT)

The key in any game between two teams with absolutely nothing to play for is to keep guys healthy. The Wild failed at that. Martin Havlat, Guillaume Latendresse and Greg Zanon all took blows during the game, but the Zuperman stuck it out. Nick Schultz, Marek Zidlicky and Owen Nolan were all questionable leading up to the game, and thankfully Todd Richards held them out.

Basically this was a disaster game, but it was nice to see the kids get some real playing time. Nate Prosser made his NHL debut, crapped his pants for the first few shifts, but put in a solid 19:31, including some power play time and his first NHL assist. Not bad for a kid who hasn't played in three weeks.

Best part of the game was John Scott sticking up for James Sheppard. No, I don't usually like when a guy goes after another for a clean hit, but this was a typical 2010 NHL head-shot after the puck is gone. And after nobody tried to stop Vancouver from running Niklas Backstrom, I'll take any backbone the Wild display.

So, what to look forward to the rest of the season?

• Andrew Brunette's race to beat out Guillaume Latendresse for the goal title
• MIkko Koivu setting a new assist record
• Owen Nolan passing Peter Forsberg in the all-time scoring list
• Getting a glimpse of Nate Prosser, Casey Wellman and Cody Almond and setting the tone for next season
• What are you hoping to get from the rest of the season?

Read our friends over at The Copper & Blue

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars:

1. Dustin Penner (2 G)
2. Ethan Moreau (2 G)
3. Ryan Potulny (2 A)

Five Questions to Answer:

1. Two more games. Anyone paying attention? A shocking number of comments last night for a game between two not very good, non-playoff teams.
   
2. Is this Edmonton team the worst team in the NHL? How about the worst Oiler team of all time? Well, they keep giving the Wild fits, so I can't talk crap about them, but yeah, this is the worst Oiler team ever.
   
3. Will Owen Nolan finally break the tie with Forsberg? Let's hope he gets his shot before the end of the season.
   
4. Battling the NCAA basketball championship and Twins opener, will anyone watch? Not sure, but the NCAA game was at least competitive.
   
5. Someone else want to ask the 5 questions? If you asked questions, answer them in comments!