Boldy gets 2 goals, Wild defeat Oilers for 7th win in row

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Matt Boldy scored twice, and the Minnesota Wild won their seventh straight game by defeating the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 at Grand Casino Arena on Saturday.

“I think we know the role we're in, and we embrace it,” Boldy said. “I think when we're playing that role well, we do get offense, and it can lead to frustration on the other team and stuff like that. And I think when we play good all over the ice and let the offense come to us, that's when we're playing at our best.”

Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist, and Mats Zuccarello had two assists in his return to the lineup for the Wild (22-9-5), who have points in 14 straight home games (12-0-2). Filip Gustavsson made 28 saves.

Zuccarello missed five games with an upper-body injury.

“It was a hard-fought game by both teams,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I think the competitive nature of the game early in the first was a little bit up and down and then I think both teams hunkered in pretty good. It became more of an end-zone, territorial type of battle.”

Connor McDavid scored his 11th goal in nine games and extended his point streak to nine, and Leon Draisaitl had two assists for the Oilers (17-13-6), who had won two in a row and four of five. Calvin Pickard made 32 saves.

“It was nice that we tied [it] up, fought back [from] being down 2-0 and [were] able to tie it up,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Unfortunately, that's a big goal at the end of the first period, one that shouldn't happen. Really hurt us, and I thought we kept our composure, and I thought we had a good push after that. So, we had many opportunities to tie it up in the third. … And then they were able to score two goals late in the game. That’s pretty tough to come back again.”

Boldy put the Wild ahead 1-0 at 3:42 of the first period. He stole the puck from Mattias Ekholm at the Minnesota blue line, skated in for a breakaway and beat Pickard with the backhand.

Boldy increased the lead to 2-0 on the power play at 10:56, scoring with a slap shot from the right face-off circle off a feed from Quinn Hughes. Boldy has five goals in a four-game goal streak and eight points (three assists) in a four-game point streak.

Andrew Mangiapane tipped an Evan Bouchard shot in the slot to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 13:35.

“It’s nice to score, but would have been better with two points,” Mangiapane said.

McDavid then tied it 2-2 on the power play at 18:44 when he poked in a loose puck at the right post. He has 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) during his point streak.

Ryan Hartman put Minnesota back in front 3-2 at 19:52, finishing a give-and-go with Jake Middleton from the low slot.

Tarasenko pushed the lead to 4-2 at 9:08 of the third period. He tapped in a loose puck in the crease after Pickard stopped Yakov Trenin’s shot from the slot, giving him four goals in a three-game goal streak.

Tarasenko found Nico Sturm for an empty-net goal at 18:35 that made it a 5-2 final.

In addition to Zuccarello, Wild forwards Marcus Johansson (missed two games, lower body) and Vinnie Hinostroza (13 games, lower body), and defensemen Middleton (five games, upper body) and Jonas Brodin (four games, lower body) each returned from injury.

“Those guys are missing out on some time and they’re hungry when they come back,” Hartman said. “Obviously we filled a lot of spots in our lineup and everyone looked good, and we continued to play our style of hockey.”

NOTES: Draisaitl (50 points; 17 goals, 33 assists) matched the Oilers record for most consecutive 50-point seasons (11), tying Glenn Anderson and Mark Messier. … Edmonton finished its five-game road trip 3-2-0.