PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers at Wild

The Edmonton Oilers will wrap up their five-game road trip on Saturday at Grand Casino Arena with an afternoon matchup against the Minnesota Wild.

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PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers at Wild

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Following Thursday night's 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins that featured rookie Quinn Hutson's first NHL goal, the Edmonton Oilers will need to adjust without netminder Tristan Jarry when they close out their five-game road trip at Grand Casino Arena against the Minnesota Wild.

Hutson, a former Boston University Terrier who was recalled from the Bakersfield Condors on Monday, notched his first career goal to put the Oilers in front 2-1 at 14:38 of the second period when he collected the rebound of a shot from Max Jones from the right circle and slid a backhand past Jeremy Swayman.

Hutson notched his first League goal in the city where he played three seasons for the NCAA's Boston University Terriers, and the building where he won a 2025 Beanpot Championship, after recording 50 points (23G, 27A) in 38 games last season before signing his entry-level contract with the Oilers in April.

Hutson earned his call-up from the Bakersfield Condors earlier this week after posting 16 goals and 12 assists in 24 games to lead all AHL rookies in goals and points, and the 23-year-old showcased his offensive ability in limited minutes while playing 6:26 on the fourth line with Jones and Frederic.

"It's obviously harder [than the AHL]," he said. "You're just thinking about your next shift. I think when I go out there, I'm just thinking that when I get a chance, I gotta shoot it. With limited minutes, that next shot's gotta go in."

"It was pretty cool. I've had some cool goals in this rink, but that was definitely the coolest, so that was great."

That ultimately put the Oilers ahead for good, but not before they had to rally behind netminder Calvin Pickard, who came in to replace Tristan Jarry 1:30 later when the club's newest addition from Pittsburgh last Friday tried to push across the crease and came up slowly, leading to his exit after making 12 saves.

On Friday, Jarry was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and returned to Edmonton for further evaluation. The Oilers also recalled goaltender Connor Ingram from the Bakersfield Condors in a corresponding move, and placed Jack Roslovic on long-term injured reserve to enable the transaction.

With Saturday's matinée being the first of a home-and-away back-to-back, Ingram is expected to make his Oilers debut against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday at Rogers Place after posting a 4-5-2 record with a 4.04 goals-against average and .856 save percentage for the Condors this season.

"Right away, when he made that push across, it didn't look good. So I figured I'd be doing in there," Pickard said to Sportnet's Gene Principe following Thursday's win. "There was a TV timeout right after that, and he told me that I was going to have to go in.

"I've been through it before, and I'll go through it again, but it was a really good effort once I got in there. I got a couple of shots right away, which was nice, and then after the break, we buckled down."

Pickard took over the crease and stopped all 12 saves he faced from the Bruins, making two quick saves before the intermission and getting some breathing room 1:41 into the third period on Connor McDavid's shorthanded goal that made it 3-1 with his 21st goal of the season.

McDavid had a goal and an assist to give him 58 points on the season, tying him with Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon for the most in the NHL (MacKinnon plays Friday night) and extending his point streak to eight games, totalling a whopping 32 points (10G, 22A).

The Oilers were beaten on Boston's first power play through Pavel Zacha, but came up with two vital penalty kills during the third period to lock down their second consecutive victory. The power play went 1-for-5, opening the scoring on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' eighth goal of the season as part of a two-point night to give himself 11 points (3G, 8A) over his last 10 games, with Edmonton's man advantage going 13-for-33 (39.5 percent) over the last 10 games.

"That was huge," Knoblauch said. "Obviously, we gave up the first one, but then after that, we made some nice kills, especially late in the game. We've seen that a lot lately, where we've needed a big kill in the third period, and they were able to deliver."

The Oilers improved to 6-1-1 over their last eight games, with their only regulation loss coming in a 1-0 shutout defeat to the Wild back on Dec. 2 at Rogers Place, when Jonas Brodin scored Minnesota's lone goal and netminder Jesper Wallstedt earned the clean sheet with 33 saves.

The Wild are 21-9-5 this season, having won six straight games while allowing two goals or less in each of those victories, but still find themselves in third place in a packed Central Division that includes the League-leading Colorado Avalanche (24-2-7) and Dallas Stars (23-7-5). They've allowed an NHL-best two goals or fewer in 21 games this season, going 18-0-3 in those contests.

The Wild have several players who are currently day-to-day going into Saturday's matinée with the Oilers, including Brodin, Marcus Johansson, Mats Zuccarello, Jake Middleton and Vinnie Hinostroza. Goaltedner Filip Gustavsson is slated to get the start on home ice on Saturday.

The Oilers are 2-6-0 over their last eight visits to Minnesota since 2019-20, but have won two straight, winning both on the road last season on Dec. 12 and
Jan. 15 by 7-1 and 5-3 scores. Pickard earned both wins for the Oilers, turning aside 60 of the 64 shots (.938 SV%) across both his starts.