Wild use strong 2nd period to blow past Oilers
The Minnesota Wild thumped the host Edmonton Oilers 7-3 on Saturday night to complete a sweep of the three-game season series between the clubs.
Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello, Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber each scored and added an assist for the Wild, who have won three straight and improved to 4-0-1 in their last five games.
Kirill Kaprizov, Vladimir Tarasenko and Tyler Pitlick also found the back of the net for Minnesota, which is now 14-4-0 in its last 18 against Edmonton. Jesper Wallstedt made 39 saves.
Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jack Roslovic scored for the Oilers, who saw their season-high three-game win streak snapped in the loss.
Tristan Jarry stopped 15 shots before being replaced by Connor Ingram, who made seven saves.
The Wild scored three unanswered in the second after the teams were tied at 2 through 20 minutes.
Minnesota took its first lead of the night 35 seconds into the period as Zuccarello snapped in a shot off a Ryan Hartman faceoff win.
Hughes doubled the Wild's lead at 12:29, batting home his own rebound off the end boards between the pads of Jarry.
Minnesota took a 5-2 lead as Tarasenko snapped home a Marcus Foligno pass from the middle of the left circle with 4:20 left in the second.. The goal ended Jarry's night after he allowed five tallies on 20 shots.
Draisaitl opened the scoring at 3:16 of the first, snapping a shot from the slot blocker side past Wallstedt.
Minnesota netted the equalizer three minutes later on a power play as Eriksson Ek beat Jarry on a breakaway. With the assist, Hughes has a helper in eight straight games - the longest assist streak by a defenseman in Wild history.
Edmonton restored its lead 1:46 later as Connor McDavid's pass directed off Nugent-Hopkins' skate and in.
Kaprizov tied it 2-2 on a power play with 36 seconds remaining in the opening frame, tapping in an Eriksson Ek cross-crease pass.
Pitlick gave the Wild a 6-2 lead at 9:42 of the third, one-timing a Yakov Trenin pass into the net.
Edmonton cut into Minnesota's lead at 12:43, as Roslovic tapped in the rebound off Darnell Nurse's wraparound attempt.
Faber gave the Wild a 7-3 cushion, snapping a shot past Ingram at 14:17 of the third.