As you’ll see in Sunday’s editions or by clicking this link, Marian Gaborik will have a big test Sunday to determine if he’s ready to end rehab and begin the road to returning to play, GM Doug Risebrough said.  Risebrough said in his mind, Gaborik will be the “shot in the arm,” the Wild need after the trade deadline Wednesday.

Problem is Gaborik is still two or three weeks from playing. Will the Wild still be in the thick of things for Gaborik to even offer a “shot in the arm?” The Wild has been swept in Alberta, losing 3-2 tonight in Edmonton to stumble from seventh to 10th in the West.

The Wild was doomed tonight by an old pal, 39-year-old Dwayne Roloson, who dazzled with 43 saves in the best goaltending performance against the Wild in some time. The Wild outshot the Oilers 18-3 in a one-sided third period, but Roloson pitched a shutout in the period to make Bloomington’s Tom Gilbert’s second-period goal hold up as the winner. Huge win for Edmonton, which popped into the top-eight. It’s the first time I’ve seen the Wild pressure a team in a third the way desperate teams pressure them. But honestly, the difference with the Wild and others is the Wild don’t have players who can finish. I mean, their leading scorer on the ice tonight has 16 goals.

Oilers captain Ethan Moreau was rushed to the hospital after the game after being accidentally high-sticked in the right eye in the waning seconds by Antti Miettinen. Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said Moreau sustained a gash to the eye socket and it’s serious. Miettinen was sick over it, said he’s very sorry, that he lost his balance, but you have to be responsible for your stick.

Wild left wing Andrew Brunette was receiving treatment after the game. He aggravated his knee injury in the first period, yet gutted out the rest of the game. Brunette was hit way late after getting rid of the puck by Denis Grebeshkov. Referee Gord Dwyer, literally next to the two, somehow missed it despite staring at it, and as Brunette painfully labored to the bench, Ales Hemsky tied the score at 1-1.

The Wild definitely played well enough to win, but just couldn’t get that tying goal. Stephane Veilleux and Pierre-Marc Bouchard rang posts in the third as well. Now the pressure’s really on. This road trip’s in danger of going south, and if that happens, so could the Wild’s season.

On the pressure, coach Jacques Lemaire said, “We’ve got to play the best we can, and if we don’t win, it’s because we’re not good enough. But I like the way we played. Guys had a lot of courage tonight and played hard.”

Backup Josh Harding, who got the starting nod because Nik Backstrom had been yanked in his four previous starts in Edmonton, gave up three goals from between or inside the circles. He made some good saves, but he also had difficulty picking up pucks all night. He reacted late on a ton of pucks that just flew by.

“He was a little nervous. It was a big game to go into for a guy that doesn’t play a lot,” Lemaire said.

Tonight was as entertaining as a game as I’ve covered in some time. Tons of chances, great saves, open ice, speed. Good stuff. The Wild just couldn’t get it done. This is what happens when you leave yourself little margin for error this late in the season.

It’s what I’ve written since the summertime. The Wild needed to give itself a six-to-eight point cushion inside the top eight heading into this 14-of-17 game stretch outside of Minnesota. It left itself a zero-point cushion, and now it’s on the brink.

What’s worse, who’s going to pick this team up? Gaborik’s two or three weeks away. Owen Nolan, who is critically important to this team’s success, is back in the Twin Cities. And Andrew Brunette can barely walk.

Like I said, I can’t emphasize enough that the Wild played well tonight and just ran into a hot goalie who was outshot 45-30. But there are no moral victories when you’re sitting 10th in the West and are staring at the schedule the Wild’s staring at these final five or six weeks.

Lemaire was unhappy with the officiating the past two nights from Dwyer and vet Dan Marouelli. Lots of inconsistency. Dan Fritsche was called for a ridiculous interference penalty. Weird diving calls. Or simply staring at extracurricular activity and ignoring it.

Lemaire: “No comments, but it’s awful.  My Lord, help me.”

That’s it for now. The Wild is not practicing Sunday in Vancouver. It’s working out at a local gym, so there won’t be any availability other than I expect to talk with Gaborik by phone after his test with his surgeon. I’ll blog after that. 

Also, I’ll be doing a story for Monday on the Wild and the trade deadline. Risebrough has some interesting comments in that story regarding Backstrom, the possibility of trading free agents like Stephane Veilleux or Marc-Andre Bergeron and some other little nuggets.

Until then, good night.

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Forgot to confirm for you this morning that Josh Harding is indeed in goal.

Kurtis Foster took warmups, but he will not play tonight.

Some trade tidbits, but TSN is reporting Derek Morris won’t play again for Phoenix as he awaits a trade. He’s given the Coyotes a list of teams he’d go to (no-trade clause). Same with Bill Guerin, who reportedly was pulled off the ice tonight by the Islanders. 

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 28th, 2009 at 8:25 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.