GAME RECAP: Wild 5, Oilers 3

EDMONTON, AB – Corey Perry recorded a goal and assist for the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night in a 5-3 defeat to the Minnesota Wild at Rogers Place, dropping their overall record to 10-9-2 this season.

Frederick Gaudreau had two goals and an assist for the Wild as one of six different players to record multi-point nights against the Oilers.

"This league's tough," Perry said post-game. "Everybody comes in and wants to play their game against us. We have to respond to that."

Leon Draisaitl scored just 27 seconds into the contest off a lucky bounce through the legs of Minnesota goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, tying the German with Washington's Alex Ovechkin for the NHL's goal-scoring lead with 15.

Corey Perry's fourth tally of the year at 13:53 of the middle frame made it 2-2, but the Wild tacked on two more goals to re-take the lead entering the third period, where Jeff Skinner scored a late goal for the Oilers to make it 5-3 in the final minute.

"It's just a matter of competing night in and night out," Perry added. "Some nights we look great when we do it, but when we don't, it's ugly. They definitely out-competed us tonight."

Fleury rebounded from his first-period mistake to finish with 29 saves and the victory in his 1,000th career NHL start, which ranks the future Hall of Famer fourth in NHL history. Stuart Skinner stopped 21-of-26 shots in defeat from the Edmonton crease.

The Oilers host the New York Rangers at Rogers Place on Saturday at 8:00 pm MST.

FIRST PERIOD

It wasn't exactly how Leon Draisaitl thought he or the Oilers would open the scoring, tying the NHL's lead for goals in the process, but they'd certainly take it against a Minnesota Wild team that'd allowed two goals or less in six straight games coming into Thursday night.

Minnesota goalie Marc-Andre Fleury didn't envision his 1,000th career starting that way either – the fourth goalie in NHL history to reach the mark – when an attempted pass from the Oilers' zone from Draisaitl went off the skate of a Wild forward before it somehow went untouched all the way to Fleury's crease to create a forgettable moment for the future Hall of Famer.

After Fleury went down to one knee to play the puck, the puck bounced over his stick and went through his five-hole, giving the Oilers a gift of an opening goal only 27 seconds into regulation. Thanks to the puck luck, Leon Draisaitl tied Alex Ovechkin with his 15th goal of the season, with his current goal pace putting him on track to reach 59 goals in 82 games.

Draisaitl's bounce didn't do much to deter the Wild, however, who'd press on from their stroke of misfortune by having two goals disallowed before they deservedly found their equalizer.

"I thought right off the bat, it felt like we didn't really have the same jump as they did," Mattias Ekholm said. "I'm not trying to find excuses at all, but I'd assess it the same way. I think they had a little bit more jump than we did and a little more juice. That showed up in the game.

"It's up to us to be better and come more prepared."

A few minutes after Draisaitl's opener, it looked like the Wild had tied the game when Marcus Foligno got two whacks at the puck in front to put it past goaltender Stuart Skinner, but a coach's challenge from the Oilers bench for offside would overturn Minnesota's tying goal by the slightest of margins.

Just before the six-minute mark, the Wild had another goal overturned – this time without a review – after Joel Eriksson Ek pushed the puck and Skinner over the goal line before the official quickly waved it off.

Despite having two goals disallowed, the Wild wouldn't be denied their equalizer before the period's midway mark on a shot from Matt Boldy that beat Skinner in the slot after Eriksson Ek provided the screen in front.

The Oilers killed off the Wild's first power play in the period's final three minutes for their 13th successful kill in a row, with Skinner making a glove save on defenceman Jacob Middleton right after the infraction had expired.

SECOND PERIOD

Marcus Foligno had a goal taken off the board in the first period, but the 33-year-old winger wouldn't be denied on a goal-mouth scramble 3:04 into the middle frame that came off defenceman Declan Chisholm's shot from above the right circle that resulted in Foligno putting away the rebound in the crease.

Soon after, the Wild had a three-on-one rush for the chance to make it 3-1, but Stuart Skinner kicked out the left toe on Matt Boldy's one-timer to keep the Oilers from quickly falling behind by a pair of goals.

Connor McDavid had a rush chance stopped by a sprawling Fleury, but from one 39-year-old in Fleury to another in Corey Perry, Edmonton's veteran winger came through to level things at 2-2 just past the six-minute mark with a wrap-around that received another fortunate bounce.

Perry's hard net-front move as he came out from below the Minnesota goal line was thrown into the crease, where his effort struck the skate blade of Edmonton-born defenceman Jared Spurgeon before finding its way into the back of the net.

Perry's goal was his fourth of the season and his fourth goal in his last five games against the Wild.

Defenceman Troy Stecher couldn't collect a loose puck in his own zone three minutes later when Ryan Hartman's cross-slot pass meant for Marcus Johansson was pushed off Josh Brown's stick and right to its originally intended target, allowing Johansson to restore Minnesota's lead on a blocker-side shot under Skinner's right arm.

"In the defensive zone, not being able to close things out and also not losing battles around the net in the most important area," Knoblauch said of the glaring issues from Thursday's game.

"All the goals are five-to-10 feet away from the blue paint. I don't think we did enough to get there, and defensively, we didn't do a good enough job boxing out. We lucked out. The one goal that was offside got turned back. But they had a couple of opportunities there and then, even when they pushed Skinner into the net, that shouldn't happen. Then, a couple of goals where we've got to be better around there."

With 2:58 left in the period, the Oilers were careless turning over the puck at Minnesota's blueline, leading to Gaudreau fighting past Adam Henrique to create a three-on-two where he chopped through another cross-ice feed from Hartman for the 4-2 advantage.

"I think the way games are going right now, it's about keeping the puck out of our end and putting it in the forwards' hands quickly while not trying to make that extra play. It's about getting it into our forwards 'hands and letting them do the work.

Forward Drake Caggiula did get into a fight with Boldy after taking down Kirill Kaprizov with a neutral-zone check, and the Oilers would have work to do in the third period if they were to come back and improve to 6-0 in games where they record a fighting major.

THIRD PERIOD

Newly arrived Oilers winger Kasperi Kapanen drew a holding call in the first five minutes of the third, but Edmonton's first power play didn't go far in giving them any sort of momentum for a third-period comeback.

The Finnish forward was claimed off waivers from St. Louis on Wednesday and drew both of Edmonton's penalties against the Wild over 12:10 of ice time during his Oilers debut.

"I thought he played good. He drew two penalties – something that we haven't been able to do very much of," Knoblauch said. "If you're drawing penalties, you usually have the puck and you're moving your feet. So for his first game, I was happy with him."

The Oilers failed to generate many chances with the man advantage, registering no shots on goal on their first attempt before getting caught on another odd-man rush near the midway mark of the final period by Minnesota that made it 5-2 for the visitors.

Foligno chipped the puck past Brett Kulak and Jeff Skinner at the blueline, creating a three-on-one for the Wild where it was tucked home on the rebound by Gaudreau for his second goal of the game with 9:50 remaining in regulation.

With their net empty in the final minute, Jeff Skinner backhanded home a consolation goal for the Oilers, scoring his fourth goal of the season. Corey Perry picked up an assist on the play to go with his second-period goal, and Adam Henrique added the secondary helper.

The defeat dropped Edmonton's overall record to 10-9-2 this season.

A chance to rebound for the Blue & Orange will come on Saturday back at Rogers Place against the New York Rangers.

"It's that time of year now where if you can just bear down and show up with an effort every night, you can get some points and you can get rolling," Ekholm said. "So obviously, that's what we're looking to do and tonight wasn't enough."