On the first goal against, Sekera had two opportunities to break up the play against two different Wild players. Russell also lost a man on that play. Draisaitl got played by Koivu on the half-wall in the Oilers own end for the second goal. He was just too slow to make a pass after Russell chipped it out to him. Russell's chip may not have been far and-or hard enough though. The cycle leading up to this goal began after a Sekera turnover off of a breakout pass attempt. I thought the Wild were tougher on the cycle and dictated the play more than the Oilers did in the first, but the latter didn't play poorly per se. Number of shots and scoring chances were pretty close. Early in the second, the Oilers got scored on again because Russell lost his man behind the net during a cycle and Hendricks had no good position on his man in the low slot. Benning didn't check hard enough so that Wild player had a good pass. It started though because of a very weak and pointless turnover by Pouliot. Then he didn't engage the Wild opponent, nor did he play well positionally and with stick work. Instead he collapsed around the slot leaving the right point open and then lackadaisically and reactively spread out toward that point man, giving him all the time and space needed to make a pass. They got beaten down on the cycle on that one. at that point the Oilers were in the hole and didn't really have a chance of getting out of it. Overall Russell, Sekera, Talbot, and Draisaitl played poorly defensively on this night.
