GAME STORY: Wild 4, Oilers 3

EDMONTON, AB - The Minnesota Wild may have owned the sixth-worst power play coming into Edmonton, but tonight it was the best in the NHL.
The Wild went 3-for-3 with the man advantage while the Oilers were a quiet 0-for-5, carrying the lead three times up until the third period but unable to hold on in a 4-3 defeat Tuesday night at Rogers Place.

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The Oilers host the Chicago Blackhawks before departing on a four-game road trip. The game can be seen on Sportsnet West and heard on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED. Puck drop is 7:08 p.m. MDT.
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Inside The Oilers Blog
"They're a good penalty kill, and they've been good for many years," Oilers captain Connor McDavid said post-game. "We just weren't sharp. We had a couple dangerous looks but weren't good at retrievals and we didn't get pucks back. You're going to have those nights."
Mikael Granlund's power-play marker and 11th point during a nine-game scoring streak with 5:48 left in the third period sealed the deal for the visitors, who improve to 7-3-2 on the season with the victory.
Zach Parise continued his best start to a season as a member of the Minnesota Wild with his 12th point in 12 games and fourth in as many contests against the Oilers.
The Oilers have their three-game win streak snapped in the loss and fall to 2-2-1 on home ice and 6-4-1 overall. Leon Draisaitl extended his point streak to three games with a goal and assist, while Connor McDavid and Alex Chiasson added goals in defeat.
Coming into the game last in the league with 14 even-strength goals, the Oilers added three to that tally but were undone by lack of contributions from special teams.
"If you give up three on the penalty kill and fail to score on the power play, you're not winning," Oilers Head Coach Todd McLellan said. "We could play that game 100 times and do the same thing over and over again and get the same result. It's the easiest answer I can give you."
McDavid looked to extend his goal streak to five games inside the first minute, receiving Nugent-Hopkins' backhand feed just outside the blueline for a one-on-one with Stalock that was stopped 48 seconds into the contest.
Charlie Coyle then snuck up in the play and received a backdoor feed from Eric Staal, but the Wild forward fanned on his opportunity to open the scoring.
A blocked shot in the Oilers defensive zone by Milan Lucic sprung the winger on a partial breakaway that ended in a save by Stalock and an Oilers power play after defenceman Greg Pateryn got his stick up for the high stick.

The Wild utilized their fourth-best penalty kill in the league to stifle the Oilers man advantage, but the breakthrough came seconds after the penalty expired through Draisaitl. Defenceman Oscar Klefbom's shot from the point was blocked, but the rebound fell to Nugent-Hopkins in the slot who chipped the puck to the German to score his seventh goal of the season into an open goal past Stalock.
The Wild levelled the score on their first power play with six minutes left on the clock in the opening frame, with winger Zach Parise scoring his fourth goal in four games against the Oilers on the rebound in front of Talbot.

The Oilers skaters fired 21 shots the way of Stalock in the first period, going 0-for-2 on the power play. The Wild were 1-for-1, with Talbot making 12 stops on 13 shots.
Then, after the second-period restart, another moment of brilliance from the Oilers captain this season broke the deadlock.
Following up Kris Russel's flip out of the Oilers zone, McDavid picked up speed 1:20 into his shift and burned defenceman Ryan Suter outside and put his shot over Stalock's shoulder and in off the crossbar. For his ninth goal and 18th point.

The Wild then equalized eight minutes later, this time through defenceman Jared Spurgeon off the behind-the-net feed from Eric Staal.
But it took no time for the Oilers to take their third lead of the game just 57 seconds later when Alex Chiasson tipped home his fourth goal of the season. Defenceman Matt Benning notched his first assist and point of the season, with Draisaitl adding the other helper.

Russell made a claim for the biggest defensive play of the night by sprawling out and breaking up a dangerous 2-on-1 for the Wild three minutes from the break.
The power play proved productive again for the visitors with 1:40 left on the clock in the second as Staal's deflection on Suter's point shot found the bottom-left corner of the net past Talbot.
The score would be level at three through 40 minutes despite a heavy 32-19 advantage in shots for the Oilers.
McLellan made adjustments to the lines to find the spark that would lift the Oilers in the final frame, swapping Drake Caggiula and Kailer Yamamoto on the first and third lines.

"We were trying to find something in the third period and somebody to finish and capitalize on some chances," McLellan added. "On Connor's line they moved the puck around well but there wasn't someone always in and around the paint, and we thought Drake would go do that. But there's power play and penalty kill units that weren't good tonight."
The final Wild man advantage provided the difference when Granlund placed his shot perfectly to the top-right corner from the half-wall, leaving Talbot no chance with 5:48 on the clock.
Relentless pressure in the final 30 seconds, including three clear-cut chances, provided no respite for McLellan and his men as the clock ran out on a 4-3 defeat for the Oilers.
The Oilers host the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday before departing on a four-game road trip.