[Sylvanfan]

U CAN"T TOUCH THIS
Roman Hamrlik rallies Oilers for comeback win over Wild

It's a series that has seen a lot of hype around a lot of ex-players getting a shot at their former teams. But todays hero wasn't one of those players but it was a player who is connected to both teams in a way. Roman Hamrlik who came to the Oilers with Mike Knuble in a deal that saw now Wild defencemen Dimitri Kalinin go to Florida with Brendan Shanahan was the hero.The Oiler defenceman continued his great post season play with 2 goals and an assist all coming in the Oilers 5 goal third period to lead his team to a 5-2 come from behind win over the Minnesota Wild. It was the third consecutive game in which the Oilers have rallied after trailing at the second intermission to post a victory. Another player connected to the multiple transactions involving former Oiler and Wild players also posted two goals. Shane Doan who was aquired from Detroit along with Karel Rachunek for Michal Handzus and former Wild defenceman Matthias Ohlund. Eventually Handzus found his way to Minnesota, but was eventually moved for Mark Bell. Did you follow all this? It seems like every player in this series is some how connected to the other team.

As for the game itself many expected a defensive game in which the rested Oilers would come out and pressure the weary Wild troops. But in fact it was an end to end first period where the Wild glady traded punches with the Oilers, and in fact got the upper hand in the frame. It was Mark Bell who opened the scoring 11:10 into the first period when Scott Hartnell saw him trailing on a 3 on 2 rush and dropped the puck to the big centre who walked in and beat Broduer low to the stick side. The Wild extended the lead to 2 goals 4:18 later when seldom used Raffi Torres banged home a powerplay goal in a goal mouth scramble. Tomas Vokun looked every bit the part of the vengeful goalie as he turned aside 12 Oiler shots, and gave the Oilers private box, and nasty glare, and an unobstructed view of his middle finger as he skated off the ice after the first period.

The second period was a more along the lines of what was expected in this series as neither team managed to score, and ony one minor penalty was assessed. Still Oiler goaltender Martin Broduer turned aside an additional 10 shots which kept his team in the game. Broduer's best save came 15 minutes into the frame when white hot Brendan Morrow had a partial breakaway and tried to beat Broduer hight to the blocker side, but Broduer managed to get the puck just in time and deflect it over the net. Again Vokun had to egg the Oiers on, as he made an obscene gesture towards the Oilers bench as he skated off the ice after the second period.

By this point in tme the Oilers were obviously infuriated by the antics of their former goalie. For the third straight game the third period Oilers looked like Tiger Woods on Sunday at a major as they came all out after the Wild. But Vokun was walking the walk as he continued to keep the Wild cage clean of any Oiler goals. But after a myriad of penalties occurring beween the 3:30-4:50 mark of the period Radek Dvorak jumped out of the Oilers penalty box and took the puck into the Wild zone. Dvorak than dropped the puck to the trailing Roman Hamrlik who faked the shot and slid a nifty pass cross ice to Mike Knuble to hammer home for his first of the playoffs giving the Oilers a shorthanded goal and cutting the lead to 2-1 at the 5:43 mark. Shane Doan managed to draw the Oilers even 6:03 later when he was able to squeak a shot through Vokuns pads converting a nice set up from Brian Leetch. The Oilers continued to press and finally opened the flood gates 5 and a half minutes later. Roman Hamrlik potted the game winner when he took Shane Doan's pass and ripped a slap shot over Vokuns glove hand. By now it was clear that the Wild had lost their composure as Murray Baron took a double minor for high sticking. Shane Doan scored his second of the game on the powerplay at the 18:52 mark to give the Oilers a 2 goal lead. Roman Hamrlik than closed out the scoring 26 seconds later when he ripped home a one time shot on a Vincent Lecavalier feed. When the dust finally settled the Oilers had accrued 5 goals on 19 third period shots and had taken a 1-0 series lead.

Oilers GM Sylvanfan had a mixed reacton to the opening game of the series. "Well again I'm glad that we were able to rally for a third period win. It was nice to finally see our guys cash in on some chances as we've been a bit snake bitten all playoffs. But we were far too loose early on, and let them come into our building and take it to us, which is unacceptable. Marty was huge for us again today, not letting us fall out of the game early when it looked like we didn't have it today. Roman has really stepped it up for us in the playoffs, and we need him to keep contributing. A couple other guys had better games for us too, and we finally manged to notch one on the PP. Hopefully they'll carry over the third period into Tuesdays game, and we can post another solid effort. They'll be nuts in the Excell Energy Center on Thursday as they haven't seen this team since they won that game in Nashville, and the last thing we want to do is give them a chance to go up 2-1 in that game."

Notes:

Game Stars

1 - Roman Hamrlik (OIL)
2 - Shane Doan (OIL)
3 - Martin Brodeur (OIL)

All the former Oilers on the Wild failed to register a goal, and only Dimitri Kalinin posted an assist and wasn't a minus player on the night. The Oilers improved their all time playoff record against the Wild to 5-1. Roman Hamrlik has scored as many goals in 7 playoff games as he did in 74 regular season games, including 17 as an Oiler where he didn't register one goal. Martin Broduer has been selected as a game star in all 5 Oiler wins so far in the post season.
Game 2 to take place at Rexall Place on Tuesday.