Oilers can't close out Wild, lose 2-1 in shootout

[Event Summary]
[Cult of Hockey]

Second game in a row that I went to sleep with the Oilers leading 1-0 heading into the third period and at the end of the game, the Oilers found a way to lose instead of close it out for the win. They fall to 2-2-2 on the season with six points tallied. They should be a lot better off than that.

From NHL.com:

The Oilers were two seconds away from a 1-0 shutout before Minnesota's Dany Heatley beat Nikolai Khabibulin with 1.2 seconds left in regulation. After a scoreless overtime, Matt Cullen scored the only goal of the shootout, giving the Wild a 2-1 win that stunned the full house of 16,839 at Rexall Place


Jordan Eberle's and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' efforts were stopped in the shootout before Eric Belanger hit the post to end the game. Cullen, Minnesota's first shooter in the tiebreaker, came in slowly before whipping a backhander under the crossbar on the Wild's first try.

 Ugh.

The Bulin Wall's 30 saves were not enough because he didn't make the final save of the game. That's why Hockey is so painful yet so intriguing at the same time. I would think that 99.9% of fans watching this game had the Oilers going off as a winner last night. And it didn't happen. And until the Oilers learn to close and score one more goal that makes the other team quit on the night this is going to keep happening.

My playoff predictions may have been premature.