Wild Closes Preseason With Shootout Loss

The Minnesota Wild played seven games in 10 nights, and when Devin Setoguchi's slap shot in the final round of tonight's shootout was turned away by Edmonton Oiler goaltender Devan Dubnyk, the regular season was brought upon us.

Granted, the Wild will have a full week before the season opener actually kicks off, but those days will be spent continuing to build and refine, as opposed to looking back at a 4-3 shootout loss to Edmonton.

As was the case a lot in the Wild's 3-3-1 preseason, there were flashes of brilliance, but then there was another two-goal Wild lead that disappeared in the third period.

After a scoreless, but up-and-down first period, Pierre-Marc Bouchard opened the scoring in the opening minute of the second by darting to the front and tucking one under Dubnyk.

The Oilers tied the game when Anton Lander was hooked on a breakaway, and then scored on the ensuing penalty shot.

The second period was marred 1:30 in when Eric Nystrom chased after an icing and got his stick tangled in the legs of Taylor Fedun. Fedun went awkwardly into the boards and suffered a leg injury. He was eventually carted off in a stretcher and Nystrom received a five minute major and game misconduct.

In the third, Mikko Koivu and Setoguchi built a 3-1 lead, both with slap shots. But the Oilers rallied as Linus Omark and Ryan Jones scored goals 27 seconds apart and forced overtime.

The game remained tied through OT, and Lander buried the only goal of the shootout.

The Wild will have an off day on Saturday, followed by two days in Duluth on a team bonding trip. The regular season will kick off on Saturday when the Columbus Blue Jackets visit Xcel Energy Center.