The Minnesota Wild (27-24-6) rebounded on Friday night with a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers (33-19-2) inside Rogers Place after falling 6-3 to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. The Wild are back to within two points of a playoff spot and the eighth-place St. Louis Blues. The Wild didn’t get any help on Thursday night as the Blues, Nashville Predators, Seattle Kraken and Calgary Flames all won.
The Wild improved to 6-1-1 since the bye week and All-Star break after Friday’s win and have won nine out of their past 13 games. They look to continue their post-break success Saturday against the Kraken in Seattle in the second night of a back-to-back. The Wild are still without injured forwards Marcus Foligno and Pat Maroon and didn’t have injured Zach Bogosian in the lineup on Friday, either, but they continue to find ways to win.
Not only did the Wild rebound, but Filip Gustavsson did, too, and he arguably stole this contest. Gustavsson made 41 saves on 43 shots (.953 save percentage) and saved 2.27 goals above expected, according to Natural Stat Trick, after allowing five goals on 16 shots and getting pulled after two periods in the Wild’s victory over the Vancouver Canucks Monday.
The Wild, who went 0-for-4 on the power play, got outplayed at five-on-five, but still managed to outscore the Oilers 3-1. The Wild were outshot 43-20 Friday by the Oilers, who had the better of the chances with a 19-8 edge in high-danger chances and controlled 60.75 percent of the five-on-five expected goal share.
The Wild got on the board first when Matt Boldy beat Calvin Pickard glove side from the high slot with 23 seconds left in the first. Boldy now has six goals and 13 points over his past seven games.
Joel Eriksson Ek had scored earlier in the period, but the Oilers successfully challenged the goal for offsides.
It took a second-period power play (an Eriksson Ek holding minor) for the Oilers to finally break through. Leon Draisaitl beat Gustavsson glove side on a one-timer from the right circle 17 seconds into the man advantage.
Fast forward to the third period, Brodin beat Pickard on a slapshot from the left circle to give the Wild a 2-1 lead with 10:29 remaining. Declan Chisholm, who was elevated to the second pair with Brodin because of Bogosian’s injury, recorded the primary assist on the goal. Boldy gave the Wild a two-goal lead when he found the back of the net for a second time from the slot with 7:42 left.
Zach Hyman cut the Oilers’ deficit to 3-2 with a power play goal with 5:09 to go, but Mats Zuccarello added an empty net marker with 1:27 left. The Wild face the Kraken Saturday before a home game versus the Hurricanes Tuesday.
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