GAME RECAP: Wild 1, Oilers 0

EDMONTON, AB – Goaltender Jesper Wallstedt made 33 saves for the Minnesota Wild, outduelling Stuart Skinner in the opposite crease, who stopped 23 of 24 shots for the Edmonton Oilers in a narrow 1-0 defeat at Rogers Place on Tuesday night to open their five-game homestand.

"Kudos to him, he was solid back there," Mattias Ekholm said. "But I thought we had chances. I thought we had looks. It's just that things aren't coming easily right now for us, so it's about putting your head down and continuing to work. But if we keep playing like we did tonight, I think more often than not, we'll like the result.

"Unfortunately, it just wasn't our night."

Defenceman Jonas Brodin scored the lone goal for Minnesota off an offensive-zone faceoff at 6:49 of the opening frame following Edmonton's first successful penalty kill, finishing the night 2-for-2 shorthanded, while their power play was held in check over three opportunities on Tuesday.

Skinner earned the shutout in Seattle on Saturday and was terrific again on Tuesday, stopping all the shots he faced except one in a losing effort, where the Oilers couldn't provide their netminder any run support over the full 60 minutes that included a six-on-four opportunity in the final minute of regulation.

Wallstedt stopped all 33 shots he faced for the Wild to pick up his fourth career shutout in only his 15th NHL start, and his fourth clean sheet in his last six games.

"I thought there were some good signs," Connot McDavid said. "We played really solid in Seattle. I thought we played another pretty decent one here today, so that's a good sign."

The Oilers fall to 11-11-5 on the season and will continue their homestand on Thursday with a rematch against the Seattle Kraken.

FIRST BLOOD TO THE WILD

Another terrific penalty kill from the Oilers during the first period as a carryover from Saturday's 6-for-6 evening in Seattle didn't stop the high-flying Wild from opening the scoring off the first faceoff that followed the return to even strength less than half a minute later.

Defenceman Alec Regula sacrificed the body earlier in the period to make a vital block against Zach Bogosian just over five minutes into the frame before doing so again against Vladimir Tarasenko during the Wild's first power play with Ty Emberson in the box for interference.

Stuart Skinner also shut the door twice on Joel Eriksson Ek at the right post during the power play after a rebound fell dangerously to the Finnish centre, while Mattias Janmark showed strong individual possession and skating to help kill off time on Minnesota's opening man advantage and keep it scoreless.

But the deadlock was broken just 29 seconds after Emberson's infraction had expired, with Jonas Brodin letting fly a hard slap shot quickly off an offensive zone draw for the Wild that beat Skinner cleanly over his glove to give Minnesota the 1-0 lead with 6:49 left in the opening frame.

The Wild held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes at Rogers Place as they looked to extend their point streak to 12 games (9-0-2), while the Oilers were aiming to kick off their five-game homestand on a positive note on Tuesday after playing only four games on home ice during November.

NOTHING NEW AFTER TWO

The Oilers maintained pressure over the second period by outshooting the Wild 15-6 in the frame, but they couldn't solve netminder Jesper Wallstedt, who helped keep the Wild ahead 1-0 through 40 minutes over two power plays for Edmonton and one-way traffic towards Minnesota's crease.

"We had some looks," McDavid said. "Their goalie played well, they defended hard, but just maybe not clean enough to score."

The best look from the Oilers' top-unit power play fell to Zach Hyman on their first of two looks with the man advantage just past the five-minute mark. After a quick passing play between McDavid, Draisaitl and Hyman saw No. 18 cut inside to try and backhand it past Wallstedt, the winger was robbed by the right pad as he pushed out of his crease to take away his opportunity in close.

"It was close," Hyman said. "Obviously, if I get it up, it's a quick play. I got it where I wanted it, but I just couldn't, couldn't get it up, and he still got a toe on it even though he was sliding. So it was a good save."

The Oilers fell to 0-for-2 on the power play after failing to capitalize on Ryan Hartman's tripping call at 11:45 of the middle frame, going goalless on their first two opportunities following a perfect 2-for-2 evening in Seattle on Saturday afternoon.

Wallstedt stood up Andrew Mangiapane before the intermission when he blockered away No. 88's open look from the slot off a three-on-two rush for the Oilers, keeping it 1-0 for the Wild after 40 minutes.

LEFT OUT IN THE COLD

Sadly, the shutout wouldn't go in Edmonton's favour this time around.

Minnesota saw out their slim 1-0 victory after Wallstedt made 10 more saves, surviving a late six-on-four opportunity for the Oilers in the last minute and holding on to secure his fourth career shutout in only his 15th NHL game since being drafted in the first round (20th overall) by the Wild in 2021.

"You're disappointed anytime you lose," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "You look for the negatives. You look to critique the wins or the things that we didn't do to get to win, but I thought we had some chances. Stu came up with some big saves, but overall, I thought we played a game where more often than not, we come out victorious and are feeling good about ourselves."

Vasily Podkolzin set up Evan Bouchard for a one-timer off the rush early in the period that needed Wallstedt to make a smart kick save to keep it out, while Skinner was looking focused at the other end by stopping a dangerous deflection from Nico Sturm at the other end of the ice in this goaltender's duel.

Despite giving up a first-period goal, Skinner was having an excellent follow-up performance to his shutout on Saturday in Seattle, making sure he spread out when Eriksson Ek crashed his crease and fell onto him to keep it a one-goal game near the nine-minute mark before helping the Oilers kill off a holding penalty to Darnell Nurse.

"I thought Stu played really well," Knoblauch said. "The first goal, I think there was a redirection. I think it hit a body in front that just changed direction slightly. Other than that, he was perfect. He made some big saves when we needed him to. In the third period, I'm not sure what they had for chances, but on the penalty kill, that was a big opportunity for them to seal that game. But we came up with the kill, and Stu's obviously a big part of that."

Before the Oilers pulled their goalie, Connor McDavid created an excellent scoring chance for Zach Hyman in the crease when the captain went on a full end-to-end rush and got the puck back from his initial attempt before skating into the slot. The rebound fell to the skate of Hyman, but he could only kick it out the other direction after getting tied up with the stick of a Minnesota defender.

"They're a good team and they're playing really well," Hyman said. "You gotta get to the net. It's the defence's job to box you out. It's your job to get to the net. I thought we had some looks there, some wooks on the backside. Sometimes, when you throw it there, it hits something and goes in; sometimes, you throw it there and it goes clean through. Tonight, it felt like a night where we were getting stuff there, but we weren't getting the second chances."

With the extra attacker, the Oilers showed great pressure keeping the puck in to extend their chance to tie things up late in the third period, before a tripping penalty on Matt Boldy against Connor McDavid at the blueline as the Wild looked to escape the zone made it six-on-four for the final 41.2 seconds.

Minnesota cleared the puck out of their own zone twice on Edmonton's brief two-man power play after McDavid gave up the puck, leaving the final few seconds to play out on a 1-0 victory for the Wild to extend their point streak to 12 games (10-0-2).

"We probably had a little more time. We didn't have to force it right away," Knoblauch said. "After that, we never got it really set up. Six on four, you want to get the puck to the net. You're going to outnumber them. But with the guys that we have, you'd like to get a better opportunity, but the puck's not in my hand, and they see something, they're going to try and take it. The last thing you want to do is pass the puck around the outside and not generate anything."

"There's a balance on playing with that urgency, getting into it to the net and trying to score and trying to make a play, so more often not, they find ways to make plays."

Despite the defeat, the Oilers feel they're heading in the right direction after back-to-back solid performances against Seattle & Minnesota, allowing only one goal and looking much more composed defensively.

"The NHL is about winning games, and you want to win, but in the long run, I prefer that we play the right way and we play the right way and that we're going to win more often than not," Knoblauch said. "Tonight, I thought we had an effort in a game where we should come away with the two points more often than not, and we've had some games this year where we were terrible, and we won games just by our goaltender being better or special teams, but there wasn't much to like about it tonight."

"Over our last two games, we've given up one goal," Hyman added. "So for a team that's struggled to defend, that's pretty good. If you give up one goal in two games, most of the time, you're winning both. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find one tonight, but if we continue to play like that defensively, we'll find our chances."