The Edmonton Oilers won their sixth in a row, holding off the Minnesota Wild 4-3 Friday night at Rogers Place.
The Oilers peppered Marc-Andre Fleury with 18 shots in the first period and took the lead on a sharp wrister by Evan Bouchard with 4:44 to go in the frame. Bouchard extended his point streak to ten games.
“I think when the team does well, individuals do well,” Bouchard said about his recent play.
The Wild startled the Oilers with two goals in the first 41 seconds of the second with Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek doing the damage. Connor McDavid provided a spectacular reply 40 seconds later. He came down the right side, cut through the slot, went around Fleury, and while going behind the net reached back to tuck in his ninth of the season.
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Connor Dewar restored the Wild lead with a quick shot from in front. With 1:30 to go in the second, Leon Draisaitl evened it a three with his patented off-wing power play one timer.
Early in third, Evander Kane hammered Jonas Brodin behind the Wild net, drawing the ire of Ryan Hartman, who took a penalty for roughing Kane. The Oilers power play converted when Bouchard crushed a point shot past Fleury.
“I think when you have a threat from up top, it opens up the seams for the guys,” Bouchard said about the power play.
“He does have a bomb. It’s pretty incredible how hard he can shoot it,” Skinner said. “I think he’s got potentially the hardest shot in the NHL.”
Hartman hit the post with Fleury pulled for an extra attacker with 1:29 to go. With one second left, Stuart Skinner made a game-saving stop on a drive by Jared Spurgeon.
“You’ve just got to do your best to stay in the moment–stay focused on my job, which is stopping the puck,” Skinner said. “If I have to do that in the last 0.7 seconds, I’m going to do my best to do that.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had four assists.
Fleury finished with 36 saves. Skinner made 17.
The Oilers, 11-12-1, will host the New Jersey Devils on Sunday (Face-off Show at 12:30 p.m., game at 2 p.m.).
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