With the band mostly back together, the Minnesota Wild made the goal horn wail enough for their seventh straight win on Saturday.
Matt Boldy had a pair of first-period goals for the Wild, who were playing with a healthier lineup after five regulars returned. They put together enough defense over the final two periods to hang on for a 5-2 win over a determined Edmonton Oilers’ squad.
Ryan Hartman’s opportunistic goal in the dying seconds of the opening period was the difference maker. Vladimir Tarasenko added a third period insurance goal — his fourth in the past three games — as the Wild improved to 4-0-0 since last week’s blockbuster trade for Quinn Hughes. Tarasenko also set up Nico Sturm for an empty-net goal with 85 seconds left on the clock.
Filip Gustavsson was busy with Edmonton’s talented offense all afternoon, finishing with 28 saves and improving to 12-8-3 as Minnesota’s starter.
Boldy, who entered the contest with a three-game scoring streak, quickly made it four when he intercepted a puck from Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm at the defensive blue line. Sprung on a breakaway, Boldly’s crafty backhander slipped past the Edmonton goalie on the glove side less than five minutes into the game.
Near the midway point of the first, Oilers star forward Leon Draisaitl was whistled for cross checking and protested a bit too forcefully on his way to the penalty box, drawing a second minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.
There was nothing subtle or crafty about Boldy’s work on the extended power play, as he took a pass from Hughes and used brute force to blast the puck past Calvin Pickard, high on the stick side this time, doubling the Wild’s lead.
Edmonton got on the board a short time later via a nice redirection in front of Gustavsson, and tied the game before the end of the first, getting a power play goal as a result of a messy scramble of bodies in the Minnesota crease.
The tie was short-lived, as Hartman cashed in a pretty give-and-go pass from Jake Middleton with 7.2 seconds on the clock.
Edmonton did everything except score on a power play early in the middle frame, and the Wild got some important puck luck when a shot by Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard clanked the inside of the goal post behind Gustavsson, then sailed out of harm’s way.
Tarasenko, acquired in a trade with Detroit in July, had been relatively quiet early in his time with the Wild but now has five goals since returning from an injury in late November. He popped in a loose puck in the crease behind Pickard after an initial shot by Yakov Trenin.
Pickard finished with 32 saves for the Oilers, who had won four of their previous five games but are now 0-2-0 versus the Wild this season.
The Wild’s three-game, pre-Christmas homestand continues on Sunday evening, with the Central Division-leading Colorado Avalanche making their second visit of the season to St. Paul. The Wild won their first meeting of the season 3-2 in a shootout on the day after Thanksgiving.
Briefly
Teams that will compete in the 2026 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship — which begins Friday, Dec. 26, in St. Paul and Minneapolis — have already begun arriving in the Twin Cities, with members of Team Switzerland attending Saturday’s game. The Swiss team’s tournament opener is on Dec. 27 at Grand Casino Arena versus Team USA, the two-time defending gold medalists.
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