GAME RECAP: Wild 5, Oilers 2

ST. PAUL, MN – Andrew Mangiapane ended a 21-game scoreless drought, and Connor McDavid scored his 22nd goal of the campaign, but the Edmonton Oilers were beaten 5-2 by the Minnesota Wild to close out their five-game road trip on Saturday afternoon at Grand Casino Arena.

After the Wild opened up a 2-0 lead in the first period with a pair of goals from Matt Boldy, Mangiapane's first goal since Nov. 3 and McDavid's 11th goal in his last nine games 5:09 later on the power play evened things up at 2-2 before Ryan Hartman restored Minnesota's lead with eight seconds left in the frame.

"It was a close battle," Mangiapane said. "We got up and down the ice the whole night... We did a good job fighting, being down 2-0 and coming back, but it's a tough one to let up there. It's a good thing we play tomorrow to get right back to it."

After a scoreless second period, Vladimir Tarasenko made it 4-2 after a close-call zone entry just over nine minutes into the final frame, before Nico Sturm iced Minnesota's seventh straight victory into an empty net with 1:25 remaining in regulation.

McDavid's 22nd goal in the first period extended the captain's point streak to nine games, totalling 11 goals and 12 assists, while Draisaitl's two helpers gave the German seven assists over a three-game point streak.

Goaltender Calvin Pickard stopped 32 of 36 shots in the loss, which was Edmonton's second defeat to Minnesota this season after being shut out 1-0 on home ice back on Dec. 1 at Rogers Place.

The Oilers closed out their five-game road trip with a 3-2-0 record as they return home to face the Vegas Golden Knights in the second of a home-and-away back-to-back on Sunday night.

"I thought we played pretty good hockey in four of them, and we played well against Minnesota both games," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "Unfortunately, we haven't had anything to show for it in points, but after you lose any games, you're always disappointed. But I liked the guy's effort."

A WILD OPENING 20 MINUTES

A spirited fightback from the Oilers to tie things up after falling behind 2-0 early off a pair of goals from Matt Boldy was undone late in the first period, when the Wild restored their lead with just eight seconds on the clock before the intermission.

The Wild were looking dangerous early after Calvin Pickard had to fight off an early chance from Marcus Johansson before the netminder was bailed out by the post when Kirill Kaprizov ripped one off the iron on a play that started with Mats Zuccarello stripping the puck off Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton's zone.

Minnesota took the lead just 3:42 into the frame on an unassisted marker from Matt Boldy, knocking the puck down at the top of Minnesota's zone against Mattias Ekholm before skating in on a breakaway to tuck a backhand past Pickard to make it 1-0 for the Wild.

The Oilers were then forced into a four-minute penalty kill when Draisaitl was assessed a cross-checking minor and an extra two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing the call with the official on his way to the penalty box, leading to the Wild & Boldy doubling their lead in the first half of their power play.

Boldy notched his second of the game and 22nd goal of the season at 10:56 of the frame on a one-timer from the right circle that was delivered onto his tape by Quinn Hughes, who picked up his third point in four games with the Wild since the former captain of the Vancouver Canucks was acquired on Dec. 12.

Edmonton would kill off the remaining two minutes of Draisaitl's double minor, and the German would help his side cut the lead in half when Andrew Mangiapane put an end to his 21-game scoring drought just 37 seconds after No. 29 exited the penalty box to get us back to even strength.

After Draisaitl moved it up top for Bouchard on the ensuing shift, the defenceman walked into the middle and threw a low shot-pass towards goal that was tipped in the slot by Mangiapane to lift it over the left pad of Filip Gustavsson to make it 2-1 on his fifth goal of the season.

"Obviously, it's good to score, but it would've been better with the two points."

Draisaitl extended his point streak to three games with the secondary assist and has now picked up a point in seven of his last eight games against Minnesota, while Bouchard's helper gives him 10 points (3G, 7A) over his last eight versus the Wild.

Under four minutes later, it became Edmonton's turn with the man advantage when Mangiapane drew an interference penalty against Jake Middleton, with a mad scramble inside the Wild crease seeing the puck land on the stick of Connor McDavid for an easy tap-in on the goal line to tie things up at 2-2.

Thanks to scoring his 22nd goal of the campaign, McDavid's terrific run of form extended to a nine-game point streak, totalling 11 goals and 12 assists, which amazingly is the second-most productive run of his career after he posted 26 points (8G, 18A) over nine games between Apr. 1 and May 8, 2021.

Draisaitl picked up another assist and has seven helpers over his three-game point streak.

That should've been it for scoring in the first period, but the Wild retook the lead with just eight seconds on the clock before the intermission, turning their last rush opportunity into a redirection for Ryan Hartman off the shot-pass from Middleton to make it 3-2 to begin the second period.

"It's obviously tough, but we gotta learn from it," Mangiapane said. "Even me personally, I gotta learn from it. I was up there at the end, so I gotta pick up a guy there. Just be better tomorrow."

FREEZED (MIDDLE) FRAME

After a combined five goals in the first period, the offences of the Wild & Oilers froze up during the middle frame despite some close calls at each end.

"A lot of offence there in the first," Nurse said. "I thought the second period, we played really well in limited chances, and they were able to capitalize there in the third. But Picks was great for us tonight."

Despite giving up the goal late in the opening frame, the Oilers battled hard and gave themselves the best chance to win, carrying that good effort through 20 minutes into the rest of the game.

"It was nice that we fought back after being down 2-0 and were able to tie it up," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "Unfortunately, that's a big goal at the end of the first period – one that shouldn't happen – and it really hurt us. But I thought we kept our composure, and we had a good push after that."

The Oilers were inches from equalizing on a power play in the first three minutes of the period when Bouchard cracked the post behind Gustavsson from the left circle, leading to the puck falling loose in the Wild crease and another goalmouth scramble that the Oilers couldn't finish off this time around.

A few minutes later, Pickard was called into action to make a vital blocker save on Joel Eriksson Ek when Bouchard's drop pass inside the Wild zone lead to some miscommunication between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman to send Minnesota on a two-on-one the other way.

On the odd-man rush, Pickard came across his crease before Eriksson Ek put his effort across him, getting his blocker to it for an important save that kept the Oilers in this one, trailing 3-2 with 13 minutes left in the stanza on his way to making 24 saves through two periods at Grand Casino Arena on Saturday.

With Tristan Jarry going on IR on Friday for an injury he sustained in the second period against the Bruins on Thursday, the 33-year-old will be relied upon heavily with Connor Ingram to lock down Edmonton's crease in his absence.

The Wild were outshooting the Oilers 26-20 and carried their 3-2 advantage from the first period into the final frame.

MINNE-SO-CLOSE TO OFFSIDE

The Wild went up 4-2 just over nine minutes into the final frame after it was nearly offside seconds before Vladimir Tarasenko put away his seventh goal of the season off the rebound from his Russian teammate Yakov Trenin's shot in front, which bounced kindly off the goal post for him to record the easy finish.

Gustavsson stopped Draisaitl's one-timer on a cross-crease pass from McDavid before it fell into the possession of Tarasenko to start the rush for the Wild that led to their insurance goal, where Trenin stayed onside by a mere pixel on the replay screen after fighting to win the puck against Ekholm.

"We had many opportunities to tie it up in the third," Knoblauch said. "Nuge had a glorious chance, and Leon had the one timer, but they were able to score. Two goals late in the game, that's pretty tough to come back from again."

After Bouchard came across to assist his defensive partner, Tarasenko took a shot on an open look from the slot that generated a rebound in front for Trenin that struck the post, but Tarasenko followed up his own effort to put away the easy finish in the crease to make it a two-goal lead for the Wild.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch called a timeout to take a longer look at the previous zone entry, but elected not to challenge because of how close it was and the play being called a goal, so the "clear and obvious" element couldn't be met to overturn it.

The Oilers pulled Pickard for the extra attacker, but Nico Sturm was gifted an empty-net goal when he and Tarasenko got loose on a two-on-none to wrap up the Wild's seventh straight victory with a 4-2 win at home.

The Oilers concluded their five-game road trip with a 3-2-0 record and will be back in action 24 hours later at Rogers Place to wrap up a home-and-away back-to-back against the Vegas Golden Knights.

"Looking forward to it," Nurse said. "I think obviously it's a big divisional game; a team that we obviously played a lot these last couple years, and I think everyone will be up for that one."