EDMONTON — Joel Eriksson Ek had a goal and an assist as the Minnesota Wild won their seventh straight game, rolling over the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 Tuesday.
Marcus Foligno, Victor Rask and Dmitry Kulikov also scored for the Wild, who improved to 18-6-1.
Jesse Puljujarvi had the lone goal for the Oilers (16-8-0) who are mired in a three-game losing skid.
The Oilers once again found themselves down early as Minnesota started the scoring just 1:11 into the opening period on the power play. Eriksson Ek poked a puck that Edmonton goalie Mikko Koskinen had jammed against the post with his skate into the net for his 10th of the season.
The Wild made it 2-0 seven minutes into the first period as Matt Dumba made a nice feed to a hard-charging Foligno, who redirected the puck into the net for his 11th.
Edmonton got a goal back six-and-a-half minutes into the middle frame as Connor McDavid fed Puljujarvi during a battle in front, and he sent it past Wild goaltender Cam Talbot.
The Oilers outshot Minnesota 20-6 in the second period.
Minnesota restored its two-goal lead five-and-a-half minutes into the third as Jonas Brodin sent it through to Rask, who had a wide open net to shoot at before Koskinen could get across.
The Wild put the game away with five minutes remaining as Kirill Kaprizov sprung Kulikov for a rare defenceman breakaway and he made the most of it, undressing Koskinen for his third goal of the season.
Both teams return to action on Thursday. The Wild are in San Jose to face the Sharks, while the Oilers play the third game of a six-game homestand against the Boston Bruins.
Notes: Wild captain Jared Spurgeon (lower body) missed his eighth game, while teammate Frederick Gaudreau was out due to COVID-19 protocol. Missing from the Oilers lineup were Mike Smith (lower body), Slater Koekkoek (lower body), Duncan Keith (upper body) and Cody Ceci (COVID)… Oiler forward Devin Shore returned after missing the last 13 games with a lower body injury. As a result, Edmonton put forward Brendan Perlini on waivers to make room on the roster… Edmonton has only scored the first goal of the game in nine of their 24 games this season, winning all nine of those contests… Minnesota’s 37 points through its first 25 games represents its best start in franchise history.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2021.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press