Thursday, March 27, 2008
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Wild Top Oilers 3-1 to Jump Into 1st

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[March 27, 2008]  ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Two nights after getting routed in Edmonton, the Minnesota Wild were the aggressors from the start in a 3-1 victory over the Oilers on Wednesday night.

Sean Hill, Branko Radivojevic and Brian Rolston scored and Mikko Koivu added three assists for the Wild, who started a four-game homestand with a victory to leap-frog Calgary into first place in the Northwest Division.

Niklas Backstrom made 32 saves, and got some help from a defense that left him exposed in a 5-3 loss to the Oilers on Monday night.

The younger, faster Oilers ripped right through the porous Minnesota zone on Monday night, scoring three goals on their first four shots.

The Wild had the fast start in this one, scoring two goals on their first four shots to make things tougher on Edmonton, which had won 12 of its last 15 games to vault back into playoff contention.

Fernando Pisani scored for the Oilers, who began the night trailing Vancouver by three points for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.

Getting in won't be easy. The Oilers started a three-game road trip and play four of their last five away from raucous Rexall Place, all of them against Northwest foes.

Marian Gaborik and Radivojevic broke free on a two-on-one less than three minutes into the game, and everyone in the building expected Gaborik, the Wild's leading scorer, to take the shot.

But he waited and waited, slipping a backhanded pass across the crease at the last possible second and Radivojevic finished it off.

Just over four minutes later, Hill took a brilliant blind feed from Koivu on a power play and sneaked the puck past Dwayne Roloson on the short side for a 2-0 advantage.

Notes: Veteran move: Early in the second period, Roloson wound up caught out of position as he lunged to make a save during a scrum in front of the net. He lay motionless on the ice to get a stoppage and received "medical attention" from the trainer, but managed to stay in the game. ... Rolston's short-handed goal was the first by the Wild since Gaborik got one on Jan. 3.

[Associated Press; By JON KRAWCZYNSKI]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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