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Gilbert, Roloson help Oilers tame Wild

Mar 1, 2009 - 7:08 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Defenseman Tom Gilbert scored a goal and set up another and Dwayne Roloson made 43 saves as the Edmonton Oilers held on for a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.

Ales Hemsky and Zack Stortini also tallied and Liam Reddox collected a pair of assists for the Oilers, who had lost four of their previous five contests.

Edmonton, which moved to seventh place in the Western Conference, did received some bad news as captain Ethan Moreau left the game with 20 seconds remaining with an eye injury.

"We don't have much further to say about Ethan other than he has gone to the hospital and it looks pretty serious," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "He went under his own steam. It looks like the stick gave him a gash on the socket.

"According to the doctors, you could see where (the blade of the stick) raked across the eye."

Andrew Brunette and Antti Miettinen each netted a power-goal goal in the first period for the Wild, who have lost three games in a row.

Gilbert snapped a 2-2 tie with 4:38 remaining in the second period, recording his fourth goal of the season. Reddox delivered a cross-ice pass to Gilbert, who fired a wrist shot from the slot over the glove of Minnesota goaltender Josh Harding.

It was all about Roloson from that point. Roloson's effort allowed the club's first lead stand despite Edmonton being outshot by an 18-3 margin in the final session.

"He played great," MacTavish said of Roloson. "It was another one of a number of performances like that that he is stringing together right now. He was up to the task and when he wasn't, they must have hit two or three posts. He was spectacular."

The netminder received some help early in the period from defenseman Ladislav Smid, who swatted away the puck just before crossed the goal line after a slap shot bounced off Roloson's shoulder.

"Roloson was on his game," Minnesota's Pierre-Marc Bouchard said. "I think he was the difference tonight. He made some key saves, he played well."

Stortini knotted the contest at 2-2 at 5:03 of the second session, accepting a centering pass from Reddox and lifting a shot over Harding's glove.

"This was a big game," Reddox said. "We had to come out with a big effort and I thought we showed a lot of compete tonight. We were way better that way. Everyone was blocking shots and banging bodies. It was a great effort by everyone."

Harding stopped 27 shots for Minnesota, which has lost its last four games at Rexall Place.

"We've got to play the best we can - and if we don't win, it's because we're not good enough," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "That's the way it is. But I like the way that we play. I like the way they were playing, the guys had a lot of courage tonight and they played hard."