As Martin Skoula and Marian Gaborik said after this one, if the Wild lost, season’s probably over. But the Wild isn’t throwing in the towel just yet with six games remaining (four at home).

Things will still be awfully tough if you gaze at the harrowing standings. The Wild’s still in 11th, and the Wild’s still three points behind eighth-place St. Louis, which keeps on winning, along with red-hot Nashville (seventh place, four points in front).

Behind the Blues and ahead of the Wild are ninth-place Anaheim and now-10th-place Edmonton.

Niklas Backstrom, despite playing on something sore in the lower half of his body, was magnificent in a 31-save performance to win his career-high and franchise-record 34th game. He improved to 13-1 all-time vs. the Oilers, although he had a couple great lines just on the fact he was able to finish this one. Remember, in his previous four starts in Edmonton, Backstrom was pulled for Josh Harding.

Backstrom made a string of highway robberies, starting early on a 2-on-1 shot by Dustin Penner. He had to be good late as the Wild started to stand around its own zone.

Marian Gaborik and Andrew Brunette each scored goals, as did Martin Skoula (plus-3). Owen Nolan had two helpers.

If you happened to notice, Gaborik and Brunette switched positions between Mikko Koivu, who returned from a knee injury. Gaborik, who’s played right wing ever since he got to the NHL, played left wing and Brunette, a left winger, played right wing. Why?

Gaborik said before the game he and Brunette decided to change it up with the hope of getting a better matchup against the Oilers’ top D-pair. So Gaborik was able to go against mostly Steve Staios and avoid Sheldon Souray, although both are super physical.

Whatever the reason, it paid off. Brunette, by the way, got Goal No. 20, the fifth time he’s hit that mark and third time in four years. And it came against his good pal, Dwayne Roloson. So, if you’re counting at home, the Wild’s two leading goal scorers are the two oldest players on the team, Nolan and Brunette.

Also, if you noticed, the Wild, which was already without Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion), lost Cal Clutterbuck for a good chunk in the second period. He said he was cross-checked in front of the net by Edmonton’s Tom Gilbert, and he got the wind knocked out of him for a good six minutes. But Clutterbuck was back on the bench to start the third period.

James Sheppard had a quality game. Plus-2, an assist, drew two penalties, including the delayed penalty that led to Gaborik’s eventual winner as the sixth skater with Backstrom on the bench.

Also, funny sight, but 6-8 defenseman John Scott got into a wrestling match fight with Zach Stortini. Stortini wound up ripping Scott’s nameplate right off his sweater. Scott had to play the rest of the first period with just his No. 36 on the back.

Koivu returned to play 19:06. He skated really well, much better than he walks off the ice. He won 13 of 20 faceoffs.

Gaborik had six shots after taking none last night.

OK, that’s it for me. Brian Stensaas, proved yet again he’s a great teammate, has my back tomorrow. Scheduled to have the day off, Stensaas is still willing to take practice now that the Wild plans to practice before Tuesday’s home game against Vancouver.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 29th, 2009 at 9:57 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.