Wild Rally To Beat Oilers In Shootout
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- Dany Heatley stunned the Edmonton Oilers -- and drew some high praise from Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo.
Heatley tied it with 2 seconds left in regulation and Matt Cullen scored the shootout winner in the Minnesota Wild's 2-1 comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night
"It was like he refused to lose that game tonight," Yeo said. "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. I was happy to see Dany Heatley get that goal because he was one of the guys who was at the forefront."
With Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom off for an extra attacker, Heatley put a shot under Nikolai Khabibulin's arm to force overtime.
"We've been in every game, we feel like, this season," Heatley said." 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."
Ryan Jones scored in regulation for the Oilers (2-2-2). They have lost four of their last five games.
"We have to start closing games," said Edmonton forward Eric Belanger, who rang a shot off the post in the shootout session. "We're playing well but we need to finish."
Both goalies finished with 30 saves.
The Wild have a nine game-winning streak against the Oilers.
"I thought we played well, but it came down to tenths of seconds," Oilers coach Tom Renney said. "I have nothing but confidence in this team. They're a pleasure to coach because they want badly to do the right thing."
The Oilers had the best chance early on as Taylor Hall made a pass through to a hard-charging Jordan Eberle, who couldn't get a handle on the puck before crashing into the Minnesota net.
Four minutes later, Ryan Smyth intercepted an errant pass in the Wild zone and fed it in front to Jones for an easy tap-in.
Cullen had the Wild's best opportunity midway through the second when he split the defense, but Khabibulin slammed his pads shut to make the save.
Notes: Edmonton forward Taylor Hall was back in the lineup after missing Tuesday's game with the flu. ... Minnesota was without defenseman Mike Lundin and forward Cody Almond, both sidelined with back issues.
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