Joel Eriksson Ek had a goal and an assist, Cam Talbot made 38 saves, and the Minnesota Wild pulled away for a 4-1 win over the host Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.
Marcus Foligno, Victor Rask and Dmitry Kulikov also scored for Minnesota, which won its seventh game in a row. The red-hot Wild have earned at least one point in eight straight games and have not lost in regulation since Nov. 20.
Jesse Puljujarvi scored Edmonton’s lone goal. Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman each had an assist for the Oilers, who have lost three consecutive games for the first time this season.
Talbot improved to 14-5-0.
Edmonton goaltender Mikko Koskinen turned aside 22 of 26 shots and fell to 12-4-0.
The Wild seized a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal only 1:11 after the opening faceoff. Eriksson Ek jammed in the puck from the right side of the crease for his 10th goal of the season and his second in the past four games.
Minnesota made it 2-0 at the 7:14 mark of the first period. Matt Dumba carried the puck through the right circle and deep into the offensive zone before sliding a pass to Foligno, who tapped the puck into a wide-open net for his 11th goal.
The Oilers cut the deficit to 2-1 at 6:34 of the second period. McDavid followed his missed shot, took the puck behind the net and slipped a pass to Puljujarvi in the low slot for a one-timer, his eighth goal.
The Wild answered with a one-timer of their own to increase their lead to 3-1 with 14:27 remaining in the third period. Jonas Brodin zipped a cross-ice pass to Rask, who quickly capitalized for his fourth goal.
A breakaway goal by Kulikov gave Minnesota a 4-1 lead with 5:03 to go. He faked to his backhand and scored on his forehand for his third goal of the season.
Edmonton went 0-for-5 on the power play. Minnesota was 1-for-2 with a man advantage.
–Field Level Media