GAME RECAP: Wild 7, Oilers 3

EDMONTON, AB – Lost in the Wild.

The Minnesota Wild had seven different players record goals, including five unanswered in the second and third periods, to secure the season sweep over the Edmonton Oilers by putting an end to their three-game winning streak on Saturday night with a 7-3 victory at Rogers Place.

The Oilers took two separate leads in the first period off goals from Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, but the Wild answered back quickly both times on the power play before tallying five unanswered goals across the final 40 minutes to earn their third win over the Blue & Orange this season.

Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello, Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber each had a goal and an assist for the Wild, while goalie Jasper Wallstedt stopped 39 of 42 shots for his second victory in as many starts against the Oilers this season after shutting them out in a 1-0 win back on Dec. 2 in Edmonton.

Goalie Tristan Jarry was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals on 20 shots, with Connor Ingram stopping seven of nine shots in relief.

Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each potted their respective 27th and 13th goals of the season in the defeat, and German rookie Josh Samanski recorded his first career NHL point with an assist on Jack Roslovic's third-period goal that served as consolation for the Oilers.

Edmonton will wrap up its eight-game homestand on Tuesday when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs before closing out its schedule before the Olympic break with the second of a back-to-back in the Battle of Alberta on Wednesday against the Calgary Flames.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers took two separate leads at even strength in the first period, but the Wild were quick to respond through the power play on two of their three opportunities in the opening 20 minutes after Kirill Kaprizov equalized in the last minute of the frame to square it at 2-2 before the intermission.

"I think the tide changed in the first period by taking three penalties in the offensive zone," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "I thought we had a pretty good period. We had two even-strength goals, and then we took three penalties in the offensive zone, which led to two goals against. I think that was a big turning point for us on this homestand."

Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt pitched a 33-save shutout the last time he was in this building for a 1-0 win on Dec. 2, but despite making an early breakaway stop on Connor McDavid in the opening two minutes, the young Swedish goaltender was beaten early this time to wipe the clean sheet.

Leon Draisaitl scored unassisted 3:16 into regulation when Vasily Podkolzin's pressure down low forced the Wild into sending the puck up the boards, resulting in it being kicked into the middle for the German to pick up and rip it past Jesper Wallstedt to open the scoring with his 27th goal of the season.

Draisaitl posted the 1,034th point of his career, which ties Mark Messier for fourth most points in Oilers franchise history.

The Wild went to their first power play right before the six-minute mark and only needed 16 seconds to dispatch the equalizer past Tristan Jarry.

Joel Eriksson Ek got open behind the Oilers' defence to accept a breakaway pass from Quinn Hughes that he backhanded over Jarry to make it 1-1 just over three minutes after Draisaitl had opened the scoring, marking their first of two fast PPGs in the opening frame that erased multiple Edmonton leads.

The Oilers retook the lead with 11:59 left in the period on a friendly bounce for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, whose attempt at controlling McDavid's pass in his skates inadvertently redirected the puck towards the crease and through the five-hole of Wallstedt to extend his point streak to four games.

McDavid picked up his league-leading 91st point this season with an assist, while Bouchard's secondary helper was his 60th point of the campaign, which ties Columbus' Zach Werenski for the most among NHL defencemen this season.

The scoring looked to be over late in the frame until Zach Hyman crashed into Wallstedt in the last minute to send the Wild to a late power-play chance, which they made quick work of again when Mats Zuccarello batted it across the crease for Kirill Kaprizov to put away nine seconds into the man advantage.

SECOND PERIOD

For the second straight contest, the Oilers would need to come from behind in the third period after mistakes in the middle frame allowed the Wild to take advantage, scoring the go-ahead goal 35 seconds into the period before adding two more later in the frame for a three-goal lead after 40 minutes.

"They're a good team, and when you give them time and space like that, I thought we gave them too much and too many good looks on our net," Jake Walman said. "That's what a good team does."

Minnesota made it 3-2 during the first minute of the period with a quick shot from Mats Zuccarello that came right off a face-off win by Ryan Hartman, catching Jarry and his teammates by surprise as it nestled into the bottom-left corner to give the Wild their first lead of the night.

"It's tough," Jarry said. "I think the chances that we're giving up some of the shots are tough. I think it's a lot of grade A's, a lot of breakdowns, so it's tough to really think about your game at this point. I think it's a whole team game."

The Oilers would outshoot the Wild by a 17-7 margin in the second period, but Wallstedt was sharp between the pipes for the Wild, while the shots he was seeing were coming from distance as the skaters in front of him did a good job clearing lanes and cleaning up any loose rebounds around the crease.

Zach Hyman had Edmonton's best look in the frame in the middle stages of the stanza when McDavid's quick rush produced a rebound in front that Wallstedt dove out for and got enough of to divert the winger's stretched attempt at poking the puck past him away from danger.

With 7:31 left in the period, the Wild doubled their lead when the Oilers let defenceman Quinn Hughes walk over the blueline and take a shot that bounced off the boards and back into his path before he managed to squeak the rebound inside the near post on Jarry to make it 4-2.

"It's just kind of the bounces that went in," Jarry said. "The fourth goal was just unlucky. A bounce off our defenceman, off the end wall, and straight back to him. I think it's things like that that just kind of went wrong tonight, and they were on the better side of it."

Just over three minutes later, the Oilers gave up an odd-man rush that started off a turnover in Minnesota's zone that led to Vladimir Tarasenko making it 5-2 with a snipe off the crossbar at the other end of the ice, ending Jarry's night after allowing five goals on 20 shots.

"We could get another save, but I think we need to give up fewer chances, because I think we do a pretty good job of spending a lot of time in the offensive zone, and the amount of chances we give up isn't that many," Knoblauch said. "The quality of the chances is something that has to be addressed. It has to get better – more perimeter shots, fewer breakaways or odd man rushes – those kinds of things that lead to goals. That's what I see right now."

THIRD PERIOD

There would be no comeback on this occasion – not against a side as quality as the Wild – but there was at least a first NHL point for Josh Samanski in an otherwise forgettable evening for the Oilers on home ice.

Minnesota scored its fifth unanswered goal 9:42 into the third period by countering off a turnover from the Oilers and taking advantage of some loose defending from Edmonton off the rush, winning a puck race and making a nice passing play to find Tyler Pitlick wide open in front to make it 6-2 for the Wild.

German forward Josh Samanski recorded his first NHL point with 7:17 left in regulation after winning the faceoff that led to Darnell Nurse going all the way around Minnesota's net before finding Jack Roslovic out front for the finish to make it 6-3 on his 15th goal of the campaign.

Roslovic then hit the post after the ensuing faceoff at centre ice when he cut ot the middle and put it off the outside of the right post, with Bouchard then striking the crossbar on another inside move a few shifts later that caught the iron for another near-miss for the Oilers, who were in need of a few goals.

The Oilers outshot the Wild by a 42-29 margin on Saturday, but the visitors would make it 7-3 just under two minutes later through Brock Faber to round out the scoring as their three-game win streak came to an end at the hands of the Central Division powerhouses.

"We were just on the wrong side of it tonight," Tristan Jarry said. "There's obviously a lot of goals that went in, and I think that everyone knows when we play the game that we want, [we play solid defensively], and I think that'll put us on the better side of things more so than not. But I think to be on that side, we just have to tighten up and eliminate some of the chances."