The Minnesota Wild scored five third-period goals to beat the Edmonton Oilers 7-4 Tuesday night.
“We had struggled to contain their big line in the third period,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said after the game.
“There were moments in the game we could have handled better, and not just defensively”.
The Oilers jumped out to an early lead when Evan Bouchard’s slapper found the back of the net 54 seconds into the game.
They had a chance to take control not long after on a two-man advantage that lasted 1:15, but the Wild killed it off. Marco Rossi evened it up by deflecting a pass from Ryan Hartman past Oilers goaltender Jack Campbell.
Warren Foegele put the Oilers ahead late in the first but Hartman tied it 34 seconds later.
Foegele popped a wrister past Wild netminder Filip Gustavsson 33 seconds into the second.
“I don’t think there’s anything to be proud of, we got one win,” Foegele said.
“I believe in this group; guys are working hard. It’s just the little mistakes that are killing us right now.”
Campbell was the star of the period after that, making several big saves, including an improbable diving arm save on Pat Maroon.
“Just a disappointed feeling in here,” Campbell said.
“We scored enough to win. Of course I’d love to make some more key saves and get two points.”
Hartman would even it up off a kick pass from Mats Zuccarello in the first minute of the third. The Wild kept coming, with Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek making it 5-3 by the halfway point of the period.
Evander Kane notched his first of the season with a power-play deflection with 7:05 to go. However, Hartman squashed the comeback hopes with his hat-trick goal with 4:10 left. Marcus Foligno added an empty-netter.
The Oilers (1-4-1) will host the New York Rangers on Thursday. You can listen to the game live on 630 CHED, beginning with The Faceoff Show at 5:30 p.m. The actual game starts at 7 p.m.
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