Game Recap: Wild 4, Oilers 2

EDMONTON -- Filip Gustavsson made 41 saves, including 23 in the third period, for the Minnesota Wild in a 4-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Friday.

Matt Boldy scored twice for the Wild (27-24-6), who are 6-1-1 in their past eight games.

“We didn’t have that offense in the first two periods where we spent a lot of time in their zone, making their top lines get frustrated and spending time defensively,” Gustavsson said. “We let them roll around in our zone and try to sort it out and they had a few chances and we managed to hold on. 

“They have the best player in the world and some other good players too and you expect them to score every night, so you know they are going to push there, they’re so skilled and so good.”

Connor McDavid had two assists to extend his home point streak to 21 games for the Oilers (33-19-2), who had points in their three previous games (2-0-1). Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist and Calvin Pickard made 16 saves in his first loss in seven starts.

McDavid has 50 points (12 goals, 38 assists) on the 21-game streak, which ties his career high. He also extended his overall point streak to six games (16 assists).

“I thought it’s as flat of a first period as we have had,” McDavid said. “Credit to us for getting ourselves going in the second. I thought we were able to generate a little bit of momentum.

“The penalty kill (4-for-4) helped with that. And I thought the third period was our best period, and we found a way to give up three there. We were able to build the game and give ourselves a chance, we just didn’t come through. They made more plays than we did, I guess.”

Joel Eriksson Ek appeared to have put Minnesota ahead 1-0 at 6:43 of the first period but the Oilers successfully challenged for offside.

Boldy put the Wild up 1-0 with 23 seconds left in the first period with a wrist shot from the slot.

“We needed to get the job done and play well and I thought we played well tonight. There was a little bit of a lull in the second period, but you expect that against a team like this and the guys that they have,” Boldy said. “To be able to weather the storm and ‘Gus’ made some huge saves and ‘D’ blocking shots and stuff and forwards doing a good job. It was a whole team effort, it was nice. 

“You can’t let them get their chances and I thought we did a good job of playing in their zone a decent amount, even though the third period wasn’t great, but to be able to come back and find two goals quick back-to-back and lock it down from there and play well, it was great.”

Draisaitl tied it 1-1 on the power play at 10:27 of the second period with a one-timer from the right circle on a McDavid pass that found its way up under the crossbar on Gustavsson.

Jonas Brodin put the Wild ahead 2-1 at 9:31 of the third period when his slap shot from the left dot went in off Pickard’s glove.

Boldy made it 3-1 at 12:18 after Ryan Hartman collected a bouncing puck in Edmonton’s zone and slid it over to Boldy in the slot.

“I thought we did a lot of good things, but one thing we didn’t do well was finish,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “There were a lot of pucks that either hit goal posts or trickled wide or were lying around the crease.

“Sometimes those go in and some nights they don’t. Tonight we were unfortunate in that area.”

Zach Hyman scored on the power play to make it 3-2 at 14:51, picking up a rebound at the side of the net off a Draisaitl shot. 

Mats Zuccarello scored into the empty net with 1:27 left.

“This time of year, you have to find ways to win,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “And I thought we did enough to find a way to win tonight.”

NOTES: Eriksson Ek had an assist on Boldy’s first goal, giving him 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in a seven-game point streak. … Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov had an assist on Brodin’s goal. He has 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) on a seven-game point streak … With 35 goals in 53 games, Hyman is one away from matching his NHL career high set with Edmonton last year.