Game Recap: Wild 7, Oilers 3

EDMONTON -- Jesper Wallstedt made 39 saves, and the Minnesota Wild scored five straight goals to come back and win 7-3 against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Saturday.

Quinn Hughes had a goal and an assist for the Wild (32-14-10), extending his point streak to eight games (13 points; two goals, 11 assists), a franchise record by a defenseman. Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello, and Brock Faber also each had a goal and an assist for Minnesota, which has a five-game point streak (4-0-1).

“It felt good, I thought we were playing some solid hockey,” Wallstedt said. “It was a tight game, obviously, 2-2 after the first, I felt like we were both exchanging chances.

“But then we took over a bit there in the second and felt like we were in a good position.”

Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jack Roslovic scored for the Oilers (28-20-8), who came in on their first three-game win streak of the season. Tristan Jarry allowed five goals on 20 shots before being relieved late in the second period by Connor Ingram, who made seven saves.

“I think the tide changed in the first period taking three penalties in the offensive zone,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I thought we had a pretty good period.

“We had two even-strength goals, and then we took the three penalties in the offensive zone, which led to two goals-against. I think that was a big turning point for us.”

Draisaitl put the Oilers ahead 1-0 at 3:16 of the first period, intercepting a pass from Marcus Johansson, skating around Wild forward Matt Boldy into the slot and sending a wrist shot past Wallstedt’s blocker.

Eriksson Ek tied it 1-1 on the power play at 6:15, getting sent in on a breakaway from Edmonton’s blue line with a stretch pass from Hughes, deking to his forehand to score top shelf. Wallstedt had the secondary assist, earning his first point of the season.

“We talk about being a good team and I thought all four lines and all six D contributed, and our goaltender played well,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “And that’s what we need against this team to play a good team game, and I think it’s good to be able to get some scoring throughout the lineup.

“That gives you a competitive advantage.”

Nugent-Hopkins regained the lead for Edmonton, 2-1, at 8:01, taking a pass from Connor McDavid to the side of the net and deflecting it through the legs of Wallstedt.

Kaprizov tied it 2-2 on the power play with 36 seconds left in the period, after Eriksson Ek picked up the rebound off a point shot from Zuccarello and sent it across the crease and through the legs of Oilers defenseman Spencer Stastney for the backdoor tap-in by Kaprizov.

Zuccarello gave the Wild their first lead of the game 35 seconds into the second period, beating Jarry’s glove with a one-timer off a face-off win by Ryan Hartman.

“It's a good team, and when you give them time and space like that, I thought we gave them too much,” Oilers defenseman Jake Walman said. “Too many good looks on our net. And that's what a good team does.”

Hughes made it 4-2 at 12:29, shooting the puck off the boards on a breakaway and then scoring off the rebound, batting the puck off Jarry.

Vladimir Tarasenko extended the lead to 5-2 at 15:40, taking a centering pass from Marcus Foligno to the front of the left circle and sending it far post, leading to Ingram replacing Jarry.

“It's tough. The chances we are giving up, some of the shots, they're tough. It's a lot of Grade A's, a lot of breakdowns,” Jarry said. “So, I think it's tough to really think about (my) game at this point. It's a whole team game.

“It's just the bounces that went in. The fourth goal, just an unlucky bounce off our defenseman, off the end wall and straight back to (Hughes). It’s things like that that just went wrong tonight, and they were on the better side of it.”

Pitlick put the Wild ahead 6-2 at 9:42 of the third period, taking a centering pass from behind the goal line by Foligno and putting it past Ingram’s glove.

Roslovic closed the gap to 6-3 at 12:43, after Darnell Nurse carried the puck around behind the net off an offensive-zone face-off, and found him out front for the putaway.

Brock Faber made it a 7-3 final at 14:17, picking the top corner past Ingram’s glove from the left hashmarks.

“I thought we played good, special teams was huge for us,” Faber said of a Wild power play that went 2-for-3, compared to 0-for-2 by the Oilers. “There were a couple of chances there in third, they hit two posts that definitely could have changed the momentum of the game and thankfully they stayed out.

“That’s hockey, and we came out on top.”

NOTES: The Wild were outshot 17-7 in the second period, but scored all three goals of the period. ... Draisaitl went down the tunnel 2:53 into the second period to have his right hand looked at after falling into the boards behind Minnesota's net, but returned to the bench with 12:30 left in the period. He played four shifts totaling 4:21 in the third period, the last shift ending at 14:12. ... With the game’s opening goal, Draisaitl recorded his 1,034th career point to tie Mark Messier for fourth most in franchise history. ... Draisaitl has now scored at least a point in nine of his last 10 games against the Wild ... McDavid leads the NHL with 95 points.