GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Wild 3

ST. PAUL, MN – Captain Connor McDavid recorded two goals and an assist, and goaltender Calvin Pickard made 31 saves for the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night in a 5-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.

McDavid passed Jari Kurri for second on the Oilers all-time scoring list with 1,044 points on the back of his multi-point performance, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins contributed a goal and an assist in the victory to give him 17 points (10G, 7A) over his last 21 games.

The Oilers trailed 2-0 in the opening period after giving up two power-play goals to Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi, but battled back from a multi-goal deficit for the second straight game after collecting themselves behind a resilient Pickard to come up with a huge win in the State of Hockey.

"It was a pretty wild game," Pickard said. "It was 3-3 in the second period and I just wanted to hold them there. I knew we were going to score one or two more. I just wanted to keep it at three and it was a huge third period by us."

Vasily Podkolzin received a lucky bounce off the skate of Jon Merrill for the game-winning goal in the third period before McDavid provided the insurance with a beautiful unassisted goal with 7:11 remaining to lock down Edmonton's 18th win over their last 23 contests (18-4-1).

"I think our guys like a challenge. Unfortunately, it's making me age a little quicker than I would like," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch joked. "I'd like us to get up three early and just cruise to a nice lead or victory, but I think the guys dug in, and they can handle adversity.

"When things aren't going well, they don't pack it in. I absolutely love the character of this team."

The Oilers will continue their three-game road trip on Thursday in the second of back-to-back games at Ball Arena against the Colorado Avalanche.

FIRST PERIOD

After an undisciplined start for the Oilers put them down by two goals in the State of Hockey, Zach Hyman was able to respond quickly at even strength before Connor McDavid capitalized with a milestone goal on the man advantage that wiped the slate clean.

Defenceman Darnell Nurse was in the box for hooking when Matt Boldy picked up the puck on the wall and roofed an effort over Calvin Pickard's left shoulder for the 1-0 lead for the Wild just 3:02 into the first period.

Just over a minute later, Pickard tried to bank a clearance off the boards to try and catch the Wild on a change and create a chance for his team, but the netminder's attempt struck the official, leading to the netminder having to make an awkward save on Marcus Foligno while still stuck out of his crease inside the left circle.

Despite the Oilers killing off a tripping call to Mattias Janmark soon after, they'd be tagged for another power-play goal later in the period when blueliner Josh Brown fed Yakov Trenin a punch in the neutral zone for payback for a hard hit a few seconds earlier.

Boldy set up his teammate Marco Rossi with a circle-to-circle pass that the 23-year-old centre put away with a one-timer to double Minnesota's lead with under four minutes left in the frame.

"A couple of things in the first period that I didn't like was taking the three penalties," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "But overall five-on-five, I thought it was good. I thought we were ready to play, but we gave them opportunities to take it to us. Their power play was really passing the puck around nicely. They got some good players, and they took the lead."

"But I liked our response, and it started with Hyman's goal and then the power play goal. We were able to go into the second period with a tie game."

Edmonton was looking its most dangerous in the opening frame when Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were on the ice together, loading up their top line multiple times after getting back to even strength and making it count before the intermission to start orchestrating Edmonton's fightback.

The Dynamic Duo linked up in the neutral zone on a regroup before Draisaitl found Zach Hyman with a backhand pass into the slot that the winger was able to slide five-hole on goaltender Filip Gustavsson, beating the pressure from the back-tracking Frederick Gaudreau to score his 15th of the season only 21 seconds after their team fell behind by two.

Zach Hyman has now scored in each of his last three games against the Wild and now has a point in each of his last 11 games against the club (5G, 7A), marking his longest streak against any opponent and the longest current active streak for any player in the NHL against one team.

The Oilers received a power play in the final two minutes of the period after David Jiricek held Viktor Arvidsson in the Minnesota zone, and McDavid would make history with a milestone marker that tied the game at two before the break.

Defenceman Evan Bouchard's shot bounced off the back boards, but Ryan Nugent-Hopkins picked up the loose puck and fired the perfect pass across to his captain to quickly fire past Gustavsson, tying Jari Kurri for the second-most points all-time in an Oilers uniform with his 1,043rd point.

"Quite a remarkable feat for him to go up the scoring list as quickly as he has, and within an organization that has had so many significant players," Knoblauch said. "But I've seen so many remarkable things from him. He's a tremendous player and a great teammate. I said that I wouldn't be surprised anymore just because he surprises you so often, but it's a nice feat for him."

McDavid now has goals in back-to-back games, while the Oilers came into Wednesday's match with a 14-0-2 record in contests where he finds the twine.

"Just sticking with it and trusting it," Nugent-Hopkins said. "Obviously, some penalty trouble early, and they got good power that can make you pay and that's what happened. But there wasn't a whole lot of defeat on the bench. It's early in the game, so trust the process and keep going."

SECOND PERIOD

Calvin Pickard said pre-game that he hasn't been obsessed with his game lately despite posting a 6-1-0 record in his last seven starts, but the save the 32-year-old netminder came up with early in the middle frame was one that both he and his team could build off.

"You just have to shut the door," Pickard said. "They had some good looks early in the second, and they ended up getting one, but it's still a one-goal game, and you just gotta keep hitting the ball back and keep the game close because we have a great team that can score goals, and we did that tonight.

The Oilers were caught for a two-on-none for the Wild between Ryan Hartman and Joel Eriksson-Ek, but after it was slid across to the Swedish teammate of Mattias Ekholm, Pickard made a miraculous sliding stop to get his blocker to the chance and turn it away, keeping the game tied at two.

"Stay patient," Pickard said of his save. "I guess I cheated a little bit just expecting the pass, but it's tough. I feel like in the player's mind, they almost want to pass at least once, so he did that and he kind of waited me out and then passed. It was a good play, but it was nice to get that save."

"Obviously that two on-zero save, it's huge at that time of the game," Nugent-Hopkins said. "You get big stops like that, you want to go out there and do something for him, and I thought we did a good job of battling back. They obviously got the third, but again, just stick with it and trust it."

But unlike on Monday against the Kings when the Oilers shut the door after Stuart Skinner's game-defining stop on a two-on-one in the first frame, the Wild ultimately ended up scoring just two seconds off the ensuing faceoff to retake their lead.

McDavid won the draw for the Oilers, but Hartman found himself free to pick up the loose puck uncontested in the circle and sneak a second effort five-hole against Pickard before Ekholm could intercept him, restoring the Wild lead at 3-2 with 4:09 gone in the second period.

Nugent-Hopkins was drafted inside Xcel Energy Arena first overall by Edmonton back in 2011 and tied the game again for the Blue & Orange over 10 minutes after they fell behind a second time, putting a sweet deflection on Ty Emberson's shot from the blueline that tipped up into the top half of Minnesota's net.

"It's been a long time, but I did have to put some money up," Nugent-Hopkins said. "The guys keep me honest about that, so I was thinking about it a little bit. It's definitely been a long time, but I mean I think the big thing is that we had to prepare for a tough game against these guys. We know that every time we play them, it's not going to be easy and I thought we did a good job of preparing for that."

Since scoring the OT winner back on Nov. 29 against Utah Hockey Club, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has piled up the points with 17 (10G, 7A) over his last 21 games after registering his fourth multi-point outing of the season on Wednesday.

THIRD PERIOD

Pod-kol-zin? Puck-goes-in.

The Russian forward attempted to pick out the driving Darnell Nurse less than two minutes into the final period with a back-door pass that caught the skate of Declan Chisholm on its way through, giving the Oilers a 4-3 lead before Nurse slammed into the Wild net after it'd already crossed the goal line.

The goal was Podkolzin's sixth goal of the season and stood up as the decisive tally after Pickard provided some stellar goaltending the rest of the way, including a terrific kick save on Marco Rossi in front that maintained his team's lead at a crucial time.

But there was still time for another one of those magic McDavid goals that capped off Edmonton's second straight win in the Twin Cities.

"The chances that we gave up were high-quality chances, and there's going to be those chances occasionally just because you can't play a perfect game," Knoblauch said. "But we definitely had more high-quality chances against than we would've liked, and some of those saves... it was a great game by him. It's not too often you say, 'Oh, he was spectacular after letting in three on 31 shots, but he was.'"

McDavid pounced on a bobbled puck by Jon Merrill along the blueline to create a two-on-one, and after holding onto the puck all the way to the goal line, the captain roofed it from a tight angle for his 19th goal of the season and provide the Oilers some much-needed insurance at 7:11 of the final period.