2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series – Minnesota Wild win 4-2 against the Edmonton Oilers
Thursday, 14th October witnessed the 45th game of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series being played at the Xcel Energy Centre. The match saw the home team, Minnesota Wild up against the Edmonton Oilers. Both teams were playing in
their 3rd game of the regular season. There were around 19,000 fans that came to witness the recent rivalry that has developed between the two teams. The Edmonton Oilers were playing their 1st away game of the campaign and to their horror;
they lost the match 4-2 against a confident Minnesota Wild team.
1st Period
Players from the Minnesota Wild were quick out of the blocks and managed to fire regular shots on the opposition’s goal. Not only did they come up with some solid shots, the Minnesota Wild were easily able to find players in open positions.
And when players couldn’t be seen in open positions, the Minnesota Wild players with the skill they had, created space for themselves, giving the Edmonton Oilers goal keeper a tough time. The Minnesota Wild’s hard work and accurate passing resulted in the
Minnesota Wild scoring in the 8th minute. The goal was scored by Antti Miettinen from 12 feet through a splendid wrist off. The rest of the period didn’t see any goals though both teams came up with frequent goal attempts.
The period ended with the score at 1-0 in favour of the Minnesota Wild. The home team scored the only goal of the period after making 5 goal attempts. The Edmonton Oilers on the other hand made 10 goal attempts but none found the back of the net.
2nd Period
The 2nd period saw both teams stepping up the moment. The period proved to be an exciting and entertaining one as 4 goals were scored during the period.
The first goal of the period came in favour of the Edmonton Oilers that levelled the scores. The goal was scored by Dustin Penner who scored from a snap off from 39 feet in the 3rd minute. With the score at 1-1, the Edmonton Oilers were searching
for another goal and were successful in scoring for the second time in the 9th minute that put them in the lead. The goal scorer this time round was Tom Gilbert who scored from 53 feet with a splendid snap off shot.
After taking the lead, the Edmonton Oilers looked to contain and keep the possession while looking for open spaces in the Minnesota Wild’s defence. This didn’t happen as the Minnesota Wild backed by the home crowd and greater determination, scored in the
15th minute to level things once again. The goal was scored by Captain Mikko Koivu who tipped in the puck from close range.
The Edmonton Oilers tried desperately to regain the lead, but in their search for a goal, they were caught on a counter attack and the Minnesota Wild scored once again in the 16th minute to take the lead with the score at 3-2 in their favour.
The goal was scored by Mikko Koivu once again from 11 feet.
During the period, both teams scored 2 goals with Minnesota Wild making 11 goal attempts and Edmonton Oilers making a total of 6.
3rd Period
The 3rd period did not have the same enthusiasm from both teams as the home maintained a good tight defence that didn’t let the Oilers score any goals in the period.
The only goal of the period came for the Minnesota Wild in the 8th minute during power play. This goal took the score to 4-2 which was scored by Matt Cullen that sealed the win for the Minnesota Wild.
Mikko Koivu was named the 1st star selection of the match who later said, "You always have to be desperate to get wins," Koivu said. "I think we were tonight and it worked for us."
"Penalty-killing starts in your own end, and there's a centre man that's got to win a draw, and I had one guy over 50 percent tonight," Coach of Edmonton Oilers, Tom Renney said. "We had a difficult time in our own end tonight for the first time in three
games.
"It's about discipline. It's about avoiding the penalty box. We may have lost the game on the specialty teams tonight, but there are other things in our game that we'll continue to work on that will continue to allow us to compete."
Tags: