The Minnesota Wild and Edmonton Oilers faced each other for the second of three times this season and the first in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Wild were still without Mats Zuccarello, Jonas Brodin, and Joel Eriksson Ek, but they did have Jakub Lauko back, while the Oilers didn’t have any major injuries reported. However, the Wild would go on to lose Jake Middleton as he took a puck to the hand early in the game and did not return.
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The goaltending battle was between Filip Gustavsson for the Wild and Calvin Pickard for the Oilers. The game started a little slow, but the Oilers quickly took control, took the 7-1 win, and moved the Wild’s record to 19-6-4 and their record to 17-10-2.
Game Recap
The Oilers started the game strongly and capitalized five seconds into their first power play to take a 1-0 lead. Zach Hyman scored the goal, assisted by Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. That goal gave the Oilers the upper hand as they made it 2-0 about 10 minutes later on a goal by Kasperi Kapanen.
It looked like the Oilers would run away with the period, but the Wild found their momentum late in the period and made it count. Frédérick Gaudreau tipped a Brock Faber shot with just two seconds left on their power play to make it 2-1 late in the first.
That score held just under two minutes into the second period before the Oilers extended it to 3-1 on a shorthanded goal by Connor Brown. The Wild had a few strong chances but couldn’t convert before the Oilers added their fourth goal in the second half of the period to make it 4-1 and put the Wild on their heels; Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the goal. Then Leon Draisaitl added one more at the end of the second to make it 5-1 and try and deflate any hope the Wild had.
The Oilers continued to add to their score in the third period as Troy Stecher added a sixth goal barely seven minutes into the period to make it 6-1, and the first goal on Marc-André Fleury, who took over for Filip Gustavsson to start the period. That wouldn’t be the only goal scored; however, the Oilers added one more from Derek Ryan to put the nail in the coffin and make it 7-1.
The Wild will be back in action on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 14, for the first game of a home back-to-back where they will host the Philadelphia Flyers, and then on Sunday, Dec. 15, they’ll welcome the Vegas Golden Knights. The Oilers will head back home to start their own four-game homestand, with the first game against the Golden Knights on Saturday.
