Game Forty-three: Wild 5, Oilers 1; Goodbye Benny

Suddenly, a team that spent parts of the season living and dying by the power play has found a way to put together even-strength goals. In fact, the Minnesota Wild have scored 10 even-strength goals in the past two games, while only notching one power play marker. The first victim was the Phoenix Coyotes, who maintained a semblence of composure, even after the Wild opened up their lead late in the game. Last night, the Edmonton Oilers did no such thing.

The game got started early, as Krys Kolanos scored a goal 9 seconds after James Sheppard was sent off the ice for fighting. Yes, Sheppard was a fighter last night, which indicates how the remainder of this season series could go. The Oilers tied the goal after slapping an uncovered puck home, but that's when the Wild turned on the jets. Cal Clutterbuck scored the game winner off of a beautiful play by Sheppard and Pierre-Marc Bouchard, and the Wild entered the first intermission leading 2-1.

That's where the score stayed until the third period, when Bouchard was able to extend the lead to 3-1. At that point, the Oilers fell apart, and stopped chasing the equalizer. Instead, it seemed like they were more interested in taking penalties and shaking the Wild up with intimidation. This culminated in a fight between Craig Weller and Sheldon Souray. During the fight, Weller went down and looked dazed, unsure of his surroundings, but the Wild kept pouring the offense on, as Brent Burns and Eric Belanger scored goals late in the period to seal the game for Minnesota. Except the bad blood to continue between these two teams, as they have five games against each other remaining through the second half of the season.

Meanwhile, the Oilers weren't the only ones to get bad news last night, as Wild center Benoit Pouliot got the news that he was being demoted to Houston. Honestly, this should come as no surprise to anyone who's watched the Wild this year, as Pouliot, who unquestionably has a heap of talent, just couldn't seem to figure out how to play with Jacques Lemaire's style. Maybe Pouliot will find his footing again with the Aeros, but it also wouldn't be a shock to see him suiting up with a different team by next season.

Game pluses:
- Antti Miettinen. He played fairly solid all game, but he gets a nod for his assist on the first goal of the game, as he tossed the puck around an Edmonton defensemen for a beautiful play.
- Mikko Koivu. If we give a nod to Miettinen for beating one Edmonton player, we have to give credit to Koivu for beating two on his set-up for the Brent Burns goal. Any question that he should be making the trip to Montreal?
- Cal Clutterbuck. Clutterbuck got his first game-winning goal with another top-shelf tally. He also is filling an agitator role, as was evidenced by the penalties he drew after his clean hits. When you get cross-checked as you're about to go on the bench, you know you've gotten under the other team's skin.

Game minuses:
- Stoppage of play. The Wild has been victimized a few times this season by goals waved off after officials "thought about" blowing the whistle. A similar play happened last night for Edmonton, except the officials counted the goal. Thankfully, the Wild didn't get frustrated.
- James Sheppard. Alright, so the kid actually had a really good game, and almost got the Gordie Howe hat trick. Still, why is James Sheppard fighting, especially when both Derek Boogaard and Craig Weller are in the line-up for the night?
- Craig Weller. This again a fight-related minus, and it's because of the way Weller went down after his fight with Souray. Replays show that Souray had a plastic wrist guard on the fist that connected a lot with Weller's face. Not saying that it contributed, but Weller was definitely shaky after the fight, and is expected to miss at least the next game. But, like Clutterbuck, you know you're doing something right when two players are willing to drop the gloves at once against you (Ethan Moreau was going to step up until Souray pulled him aside).

Next up: The Wild tries to keep it's suddenly overpowering offense on track Saturday night, as they play the 22-18-5 Anaheim Ducks, who have a game tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins.