Gaudreau's three-point effort leads Wild past Oilers 5-3 – Edmonton

Frederick Gaudreau had two goals and an assist as the Minnesota Wild continued to rack up points at will and emerged with a 5-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.

Matt Boldy, Marcus Foligno and Marcus Johansson also scored for the Wild (13-3-3), who have gone 5-1-1 in their last seven games.

Leon Draisaitl, Corey Perry and Jeff Skinner responded for the Oilers (10-9-2), who have lost three of their last four as the injury bug has taken its toll lately.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves between the pipes for the Wild, while Stuart Skinner made 21 stops in net for the Oilers.

TAKEAWAY

Wild: Kirill Kaprizov's first-period assist extended his point streak to seven games (six goals and seven assists). The Russian forward is currently on pace to reach 150 points this season after becoming the Wild's first player to reach triple figures in points with 108 in 2021-2022. Kaprizov entered the match having scored a point on an impressive 33 of Minnesota's 61 goals, a 54.1 percent participation rate in the league.

Oilers: With injuries to Viktor Arvidsson and Zach Hyman, forward Kasperi Kapanen made his debut on Edmonton's second line just a few days after being claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. The Finnish forward and former 2014 first-round pick had a goal in 10 games for the Blues and has recorded 209 points in 470 career NHL games with Toronto, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

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BIZZAR START

It was a strange start and certainly not the way Marc-Andre Fleury wanted to see his thousandth career start, as Draisaitl conceded the easiest goal of his career. A long, slow-rolling puck hit the net from well outside the zone and Fleury, who also finished third in all-time goaltending played in the game, went to slam it against the ice but let it jump and bounce. through his legs to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead on their first shot just 27 seconds into the game. Draisaitl was credited with his 15th goal of the season, scoring the third goal of his career in the first 30 seconds of a game.

KEY STAT

The Wild have been giving the Oilers fits for a long time. The Wild's 63 wins, 136 points and 30 all-time road victories against Edmonton are the most against any team. Since the start of the 2010-11 season, Minnesota is 19-5-0 in their last 24 games in Edmonton.

NEXT

Wild: Conclude a three-game road trip in Calgary against the Flames on Saturday.

Oilers: Conclude a short two-game homestand against the New York Rangers on Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.

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