Even with Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra out again with achy groins, the Edmonton Oilers were no match for the Wild, which scored four power-play goals — one more than it had in seven previous home games.

Mark Parrish scored twice (four of his six goals are on the power play), Pierre-Marc Bouchard once and Kurtis Foster once. Stephane Veilleux scored the team’s lone even-strengthed goals at the end of a physical shift in which he battled along the wall with hard-nosed defenseman Steve Staios.

Mikko Koivu had three assists and Petteri Nummelin, like an astute blog inquirer asked me a few weeks back, played wing and had his first two points of the season — both power-play helpers on Parrish goals.

After much interrogation under the beat writer heating lamp, coach Jacques Lemaire finally said he’d consider playing Nummelin up front in the future, especially with eight defensemen about to be on the roster when Sean Hill comes back from his suspension in 12 days.

Kurtis Foster, after being snakebit with several hit pipes and missed nets, scored his first goal of the season. He was ecstatic. He was talking to me yesterday about how frustrated he was: “I don’t know what to do anymore.”

Foster is playing terrific hockey right now, especially defensively. He’s physical, and if he can get that cannon working, it’ll be quite the coup for the Wild.

Lots of folks thought he scored his second goal in the second period, but he knew Parrish got it with his signature tip.

“He gave me the nod,” Foster said, laughing.

“I don’t like to keep people in suspense,” Parrish quipped.

Amazingly, 5-2 game. Four power-play goals. No points for Brian Rolston. Unheard of.

Another note, and this shocked me. After Dwayne Roloson gave up the third power-play goal at the end of the first period, the lower bowl at his end of the ice chanted, “Sieve.”

The Wild will take five days off now — Tuesday completely off. Then, there will be optional practices Wednesday and Thursday with certain players instructed to be on the ice or the gym.

As for Wes Walz, nobody from the Wild heard from him again today. The team’s front office and coaching staff is clearly getting impatient. They want to know if he’s coming back.

Assistant GM Tom Lynn said he wants to know something by Tuesday, so we could finally find out what’s going on today — whether Walz returns or retires.

One thing is clear, as I wrote in Tuesday’s paper, the Wild is paying him.

If he says Tuesday he needs additional time, don’t be shocked at all to see the team suspend him. I’m very confident that’s a fact.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 6:33 pm and is filed under Game coverage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.