ST. PAUL, MN - It was another one of those typical performances you'd expect from the Minnesota Wild on home ice.
The Edmonton Oilers struggled to crack the defensive shell of the Wild in the second of back-to-back games on Thursday night, mustering 21 shots on netminder Marc-Andre Fleury in a 5-3 defeat at Xcel Energy Center.
"They play a tight game," defenceman Cody Ceci said. "I thought they were checking pretty tough all night and then when they have the puck in the zone, they're just good at using the whole zone and all five guys. So they played a good game. They moved it well and they capitalized on some chances."
Leon Draisaitl scored on the power play to open the scoring and set up Connor McDavid's 19th goal of the season in the second period, but the Oilers saw their three-game win streak end thanks to a goal and two assists from Kirill Kaprizov and two-point performances from Sherwood Park product Sam Steel, Joel Eriksson Ek and defenceman Jon Merrill.
"Yeah, they're a good team," McDavid said. "They've been a good team for a number of years and they were desperate tonight. More desperate than were. I thought they played well."
The Oilers return home to open up a four-game homestand at Rogers Place against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
GAME RECAP: Wild 5, Oilers 3
An energy outage at Xcel Energy Center for the Oil as they build an early 2-1 lead but run out of gas on the second night of a back-to-back
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