Oilers 4, Wild 1
Losing streak ends at six games
Minnesota has been Death Valley for the Edmonton Oilers over the last dozen years, with just five wins, but they got their sixth victory in the last 30 visits on Thursday night by doing exactly what they had to do to stop the bleeding.
They got good goaltending from Cam Talbot, didn’t surrender a power play goal after giving up seven in the previous three losses, and got one of their own from Leon Draisaitl, which gives them five in the past three games.
Most importantly, they played some rare, hard defence to end a six-game losing streak, during which they had given up 30 goals. They steadfastly refused to surrender a two-goal lead going into the third period in a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild, a victory that gives them 53 points and keeps them in the mix for the second wild-card spot in the West. More importantly, they moved to within four points of Minnesota, who hold down the first wild-card spot at 57 points.
“Lots of good grinding shifts, timely goals. The power-play goal in the third was a great play and it gave us some breathing room,” said Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock.
“We played the same way (Thursday) in the third period as we did in Montreal and now we have a blueprint for success. But we have to take our road game home and try not to dance with other teams.”
“This is a tough building to play in and they usually come out pretty hot,” said Talbot, who made 35 saves. “We got on them early and did the things we had to defensively. The guys got on the loose pucks and bottled up sticks.”
Draisaitl’s goal was his fifth in the last three games. He now leads the Oilers with 32. Darnell Nurse, Ty Rattie and Zack Kassian (into the empty net) had the others, while checking centre Joel Eriksson Ek, called up to replace Wild captain Mikko Koivu, who ripped up his left knee on Tuesday in Buffalo, beat Talbot for Minnesota’s lone goal.
CHECK OUT THAT MITT
Nurse scored on the game’s first shot, a 45-foot slapper, and when it sailed by Devan Dubnyk’s glove, he looked at it as if it had a hole in the leather. It was Nurse’s 22nd point in the last 28 games.
SNIPER FIRE
Hitchcock was hit near his left ear on a penalty-kill clear by Eric Fehr and needed stitches to repair the cut.
“My reflexes are a little slower than they used to be,” said a joking Hitchcock. “That will teach me for looking for the next lineup change. ”
Defenceman Kris Russell avoided a major injury early in the third frame when he got tangled up with Jason Zucker. He appeared to hit the post with his face, but said he got that out of the way. But his shoulder was rocked.
RATTIE FINDS THE MARK
Rattie, who’s been in and out of Hitchcock’s doghouse, missed Wednesday’s practice with a sore foot after Slater Koekkoek nailed him early in the loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
“Nothing crazy. I could have skated. Nothing to worry about,” said Rattie, who played almost 18 minutes, most of it with Connor McDavid and Draisaitl.
He finished a nice feed from buddy Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, doing what he couldn’t do against Cam Ward in alone in the Hawks drubbing.
DRAWING SHORT STRAW
Oilers centre Kyle Brodziak, two games short of 900 in his NHL career, was a healthy scratch for only the second time this season. The first was Game 2 of the season on Oct. 11 in Boston.
The scratch here was tough, even though he’s minus-12 as the Oilers fourth-line centre, because Brodziak played 446 games for the Wild over his six seasons. He was plus-13 last year for St. Louis.
“We need better from that position, better five-on-five play, and we need much better on the PK,” said Hitchcock, who used Brad Malone in the third-line centre spot and Colby Cave in the four hole.
Brodziak, who played 9:38 against Chicago on Tuesday, lost a clean penalty-kill draw to Jonathan Toews that Erik Gustafsson turned into an early Blackhawks lead, but Brodziak is still their best face-of man (52.6 per cent) and their only right-shot centre. ON THE BENCH: Oiler UFA defenceman Alex Petrovic was a healthy scratch for a fourth straight game. “He has to show more composure,” said Hitchcock, who has been rotating Kevin Gravel and Brandon Manning in a third pair, but sitting Petrovic. He’s only played once since Jan. 8, missing six games with a concussion. When Andrej Sekera returns to the roster, Petrovic may be the guy they send to the minors to clear up some NHL cap room ... Brandon Manning was back in for Gravel on the third defence pairing with Matt Benning after watching the last two games.