Oilers hold off Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. The Edmonton Oilers hope Cam Talbot's return can help stop their roller-coaster December.

Talbot made 29 saves after missing seven games with an undisclosed injury, Milan Lucic had a goal and assist and the Oilers held off the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Saturday.

Talbot said he felt great after his jokingly self-proclaimed “2 1/2-half week vacation.”

He was eased in as the Oilers had 10 of the first 11 shots on goal.

“Sometimes coming off an extended period like that, sometimes you want early work. But they kept the first few to the outside and let me get comfortable, and just battled out from there and just tried to control the game,” Talbot said.

“Anytime you get one of your core players or key players back, regardless of position but maybe even more important in (goal) it's calming influence,” coach Todd McLellan said. “I felt our team didn't panic tonight.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jesse Puljujarvi also scored for Edmonton, which has alternated wins and losses for nine straight games dating to Dec. 2. “We've been playing the right way the last five, six games and it seems like every other game we've been getting the result that we want,” Lucic said.

The Oilers outshot Nashville 4623 Thursday, yet lost 4-0. They had 41 shots in a 1-0 loss at Toronto last Sunday.

Matt Dumba scored twice for Minnesota, which lost for the first time in five games. It was also the Wild's first regulation loss at Xcel Energy Center since Nov. 4. Minnesota was 70-1 in its previous eight home games.

The Wild were 0-for-4 on the power play and have scored just once in 19 chances over the past nine games.