Havlat scores twice as Wild top Oilers 4-2
Minnesota Sports- Martin Havlat scored a pair of goals, as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2, at Xcel Energy Center.
- Minnesota Wild
More...
St. Paul, MN (Sports Network) - Martin Havlat scored a pair of goals, as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2, at Xcel Energy Center.
Guillaume Latendresse had a goal and an assist for the Wild, who snapped a brief two-game skid. Antti Miettinen also lit the lamp for Minnesota, which started a five-game homestand on Thursday.
Josh Harding, who came into the game with a hip injury, got the start and turned aside 21-of-23 shots before getting injured midway through the third period. Harding made a great diving save with 9:33 remaining but needed help getting off the ice after appearing to injure his hip again. Anton Khudobin stopped all nine shots that he faced in relief.
"I thought for pretty much the full 60 minutes we outplayed them and outchanced them," Minnesota head coach Todd Richards said. "We're doing good things."
Mike Comrie and Marc Pouliot each scored for the Oilers, who had won two in a row since a 13-game losing streak. Jeff Deslauriers made 32 saves for Edmonton, which has lost its last 12 trips to Minnesota.
"We thought we could get another win," Pouliot said. "Everybody was disappointed."
With the score tied at 1-1, Miettinen lit the lamp at the 3:41 mark of the third to give the Wild a one-goal edge. Mikko Koivu slid a pass from behind the net for Miettinen, who went top shelf to beat Deslauriers.
Pouliot jammed home a loose puck in front of Harding just five minutes later to tie the game again.
Minnesota took the lead back on Latendresse's score with 7:48 remaining. Latendresse made a great move at the left circle to get past an Edmonton defender before sliding a backhander past Deslauriers.
With 2:36 to go, Havlat made it a two-goal contest.
Deslauriers made 15 saves in a scoreless first period, while Harding stopped 10 shots.
Minnesota drew first blood at the 1:19 mark of the second. Kim Johnsson's shot from the right point bounced to the front of the net, where Havlat collected the puck and fired a wrister past Deslauriers.
Comrie's power-play goal at the 6:41 mark deadlocked the contest heading to the third.
Tags: mn sports, proam, hockey, wild
More from around the web
RSS Feeds