Draisaitl, McDavid help Oilers overpower Wild
EDMONTON — Leon Draisaitl scored twice and added an assist and Connor McDavid had a goal and three assists as the Edmonton Oilers won their second game in a row with a 7-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Friday.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zack Kassian, Alex Chiasson and Darnell Nurse also scored for the Oilers (15-12-2), who have won five of their last six games.
Marcus Foligno and Nino Niederreiter replied for the Wild (15-12-2), who have lost five of their last six.
Cam Talbot made 31 saves to pick up back-to-back victories after dropping his six previous starts. The Oilers chased Devan Dubnyk after three goals on six shots. Alex Stalock made 22 saves in relief.
Edmonton got on the board with just its second shot, four minutes into the game when McDavid fed it across to Draisaitl and he made no mistake in depositing his 14th goal of the season past Dubnyk.
The Oilers made it 2-0 four minutes later when Dubnyk couldn’t corral a bouncing puck and Nugent-Hopkins slipped it past the Wild goalie.
Edmonton scored its third goal on six shots less than a minute later when McDavid scored his 15th of the season, prompting the Wild to replace Dubnyk with Stalock.
Minnesota got on the board just past the midway mark of the first period when Foligno got a screened shot past Talbot.
After a scoreless second period, Edmonton regained a three-goal edge on a long-distance shot by Kassian.
The Wild got a goal back when Niederreiter tipped a puck past Talbot at 7:32 in the final frame.
The Oilers made it 5-2 midway through the third when McDavid set up Draisaitl for his second goal of the game.
Edmonton padded its lead with six minutes left when Chiasson picked the top corner for his 12th of the season and got its seventh goal from Nurse a few minutes later.
The Oilers play host to the Calgary Flames on Sunday, while the Wild are off until Tuesday when they return home to face Montreal.
Blues 1, Jets 0
WINNIPEG — Jake Allen made 26 saves to record his first shutout in a year as the St. Louis Blues defeated the Winnipeg Jets 1-0.
Colton Parayko scored for the Blues (10-13-4) during a secondperiod power play. The Jets only had six shots on goal in the third period.
Allen’s last shutout was a 3-0 victory over Dallas on Dec. 7, 2017. He’s 8-7-4 in 21 games this season.
Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for Jets (17-9-2), who had a season-long four-game winning streak end.
Winnipeg was last shut out in their fourth game of the season, a 3-0 loss In Nashville on Oct. 11.
The Jets, who were starting a four-game homestand, outshot the Blues 13-9 in the scoreless first period. Winnipeg was 0-for-2 on the power play and St. Louis was 0-for-1.
Blues defenceman Robert Bertuzzo blocked a couple of hard shots by Patrik Laine during a Winnipeg power play early in the second period. Laine scored five goals in an 8-4 victory over St. Louis on Nov. 24.
With Jets defenceman Tyler Myers in the penalty box for tripping, defenceman Colton Parayko’s shot from the point was redirected off a Jets player and in.
The Blues outshot the Jets 13-7 in the second period.
Winnipeg had its fifth power play early in the third, but didn’t get a shot at Allen. The Blues got the period’s first shot just over six minutes in and then the Jets had another power play, but didn’t put the puck on Allen.