Spurgeon's natural hat trick rallies Wild past Oilers

EDMONTON -- Jared Spurgeon scored his first NHL hat trick, and the Minnesota Wild rallied to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 5-3 at Rogers Place on Friday.

Spurgeon, who is from Edmonton, scored the final three goals of the game. He gave the Wild a 4-3 lead at 10:07 of the third period when his backhand shot hit the stick of Oilers defenseman Adam Larson and deflected in. Spurgeon scored into an empty net with Edmonton goalie Mikko Koskinen on the bench for an extra attacker at 18:22 to make it 5-3.
"It's been a long time, probably Midget was the last time I scored a hat trick," Spurgeon said. "To do it here in a place where I had so many memories -- we had season tickets with my grandpa and I'd watch games with my brother and cousins -- it's special.
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Oilers highlights]
"My sister, brother-in-law and niece were here with my mom and dad, and my grandma was back at home watching with my aunt and uncle. It was awesome to get the win too, to keep climbing in the standings, is important."

Ryan Suter and Alex Galchenyuk each had two assists, and Alex Stalock made 23 saves for Minnesota (29-24-7), which trailed 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2. The Wild are three points behind the Calgary Flames and Arizona Coyotes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two goals and an assist for Edmonton (32-22-7), which is second in the Pacific Division, one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights. Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist, Kailer Yamamoto had two assists, and Koskinen made 34 saves.
"Overall it wasn't a terrible game, but I think defensively we could have been a little sharper, a little quicker," Nugent-Hopkins said. "We gave them a little too much time, and they started rolling around [offensive zone]. When you have that much time, you start feeling good and getting some good opportunities."
Nugent-Hopkins scored on the first shot of the game, 50 seconds into the first period, to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead.
Kevin Fiala tied it 1-1 at 8:25, collecting a rebound, skating around Oilers defenseman William Lagesson and scoring on a backhand.
Nugent-Hopkins made it 2-1 at 13:04 on a shot from the high slot.
Carson Soucy tied it 2-2 at 5:48 of the second period on a long shot through a screen.
Draisaitl made it 3-2 at 8:01 when his centering pass hit the skate of Wild forward Jordan Greenway and bounced into the net.
"Their top line is a line that thrives off the rush," Wild defenseman Ryan Suter said. "We talked in between periods that we've got to eliminate the rush play with the Draisaitl line, and we did the second half of the game and came up with big blocks and great penalty kills. It resulted in a win."
Minnesota coach Dean Evason said, "I think the guys were very committed. We really committed to playing better defense. We were getting opportunities, so we were able to reenforce that between periods, that we're getting our chances, guys, but let's tighten up in all areas. The neutral zone was real good."
Spurgeon tied it 3-3 at 10:55 on a slap shot from the right face-off circle.
"It's a tough loss," Yamamoto said. "We need to tighten some things up. We just had a couple of tough breakdowns, things that we can tighten up pretty easily. I thought we played hard, we just didn't come out on top. These are things we can correct pretty easily. If we do that, we'll be a pretty deadly team."

They said it

"It got loud when [Soucy] scored. You could tell he had some fans in here. Obviously, the way [Spurgeon] plays night in and night out, to get rewarded with some points is always a bonus. But I think he'd say we'll take the win any day of the week." -- Wild goalie Alex Stalock on defensemen Carson Soucy and Jared Spurgeon, both Alberta natives, scoring
"It's not like they did anything crazy. They played a solid game, but we just shot ourselves in the foot by giving up preventable goals. That's pretty much the story of the game." -- Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl
"When you give up four, that's too many. The fourth one was kind of a nothing play that goes off (Edmonton defenseman Adam) Larsson's stick. The margin for error is slim, but when you give up four, you have to score five and that's too many." -- Oilers coach Dave Tippett

Need to know

Ryan Suter is the only other Wild defenseman to score a hat trick. He scored three goals in a 5-3 win against the Washington Capitals on Jan. 4, 2014. … Minnesota forward Luke Kunin left with an upper-body injury in the first period. … Draisaitl has 97 points (35 goals, 62 assists) and is eight points from matching his NHL career high of 105 (50 goals, 55 assists) he had last season. … Yamamoto has 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in 20 games since being recalled from Bakersfield of the American Hockey League on Dec. 28. … The Oilers are 3-2-1 with center Connor McDavid out because of a left quad injury.

What's next

Wild: Host the St. Louis Blues on Sunday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Oilers: At the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday (10 p.m. ET; FS-W, SNW, NHL.TV)