Reporting from Castel del Piano, Italy
Cursed Shattered.
The Edmonton Oilers finally defeated the Minnesota Wild on their home turf for the first time in 17 tries. The last time the Oilers earned a "W" in St Paul's was back on January 6th 2007.
Led by Taylor Hall, Shawn Horcoff, Ryan Smyth and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the Oilers routed the Wild with a 5-2 victory. Rookie, Nugent-Hopkins collected two goals and an empty netter to extend their win streak to 2.
"We really wanted to win this one, we wanted this streak to end and it sure does feel good. I haven't been around for all 17 of the losses, but you can tell that every time we came in her we wanted badly for this to end. said Taylor Hall.
Recently, consistency has been a struggle for the Oilers and there were questions if the Oilers would fall into the same old patterns versus the Wild. Not so. Taylor Hall summed up the evening to suggest that his club played a nearly perfect game.
"There has been a lot of question about how we're kind of an inconsistent team. Tonight, we played three pretty consistent periods. We knew we were bound to break out offensively at some time. It's great that it's happening now. We just have to maintain that every game."
And that is exactly what needs to happen and scoring first will usually grant you a win. Nugent-Hopkins and Smyth put the Oilers up to two in the first which seemed to deflate the Wild.
"Right from the start we were ready for this and weren't gointo be denined. said Oilers Captian Shawn Horcoff. "It's a different feeling this year. We know we have the horses. We have a confidence that when we play right we are a tough team to beat. We can play with any team in the league."
With that being said, the Oilers will now test their racing legs against the Colorado Avalanche tonight at the Pepsi Centre, on CBC.
Welcome Back
Defenceman Ryan Whitney stepped onto the ice to rejoin his club after missing more than a handful of games with an injury.
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