Matt Cullen scores in shootout leading Minnesota Wild to victory over Edmonton Oilers 2-1-NHL Update
Minnesota made a last moment comeback against Edmonton as Dany Heatley scored the equaliser with two seconds remaining in the third and Matt Cullen made the game-winner in the shootout decider to lead the Wild to victory over the Oilers, 2-1, Thursday night,
October 20, at the sold-out Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Edmonton were readying themselves for a victory celebration after having lost against Calgary Flames on Tuesday, but were shocked when Heatley made the buzzer beater assisted by Pierre-Marc Bouchard from a tough angle on the left side of Edmonton goalie,
Nikolai Khabibulin.
"It felt good", Heatley said of his tying goal. "We've been in every game, we feel like, this season. We've lost by one or given up the lead. I thought we dominated the second and third periods tonight and I felt like we deserved it. It was nice to get that
win".
The crowd was stunned as the next face-off took place with 0.4 seconds remaining, forcing an inevitable overtime unless Edmonton could pull off a miracle shot to avoid it, which obviously did not happen.
"It was like he refused to lose that game tonight", Wild coach Mike Yeo said, about Heatley’s dedication to the game. "I was pleased with the guys and their willingness to stick with it and keep battling. I was impressed how they believed they could get
it done.
Both teams had 30 shots on each other’s nets, but it was Khabibulin who was anticipating his first shutout of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season by having kept Minnesota out of the net for 59:58.
Ryan Jones had given Edmonton the lead with less than four minutes remaining in the first period on a pass by Ryan Smyth and helped in maintaining the lead throughout the match.
It was surely a painful defeat after Edmonton’s shooters failed to score on any one of their attempts in the shootout with Matt Cullen scoring the only one on Minnesota’s first opportunity.
Oilers stay at home to host the New York Rangers on Saturday while Minnesota will play its last away game of the month against Vancouver Canucks the same day.
Tags: