Things could have gone better for the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night in the Twin Cities.
In their final visit to Minneapolis-Saint Paul this regular season, the Oilers saw the Minnesota Wild score three goals on them in the second period as they lost the game 5-1.
“We were the authors of a lot of the chances against,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said bluntly after the game.
“We can be better.”
The Wild wrapped up the season series against the Oilers with a perfect 3-0 record, outscoring Edmonton 16-5.
Minnesota forward Frederick Gaudreau got things started when he picked off defenceman Duncan Keith’s pass and outwaited goaltender Mikko Koskinen to make it 1-0 Wild 5:37 into the game.
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Wild forward Kevin Fiala notched his 25th early in the second, converting a clever pass from Matt Boldy. Fiala was at it again a few minutes later, rifling a sharp-angle shot over Koskinen’s shoulder.
The Wild took a 4-0 lead after forcing a turnover. Minnesota forward Ryan Hartman wound up with the puck in front and tallied his 28th. Hartman struck again early in the third, burying a rebound to make it 5-0.
“It was a rough night,” Woodcroft said. “Not our finest hour and we’ll address it.”
The Oilers finally struck when Leon Draisaitl scored on the man advantage, setting a new team record with 21 power-play goals. Wayne Gretzky had 20 in 1983-84, while Ryan Smyth had 20 in 1996-97.
Evander Kane was held pointless in the game and acknowledged it was not the Oilers’ best showing of the year.
“We’ve had a good stretch of hockey here,” the forward said. “Mistakes are going to happen, you just have to try to limit them. We didn’t do a very good job of that.”
The Wild are 9-0-1 in their last 10 home games.
The Oilers (42-26-6) will play in Nashville on Thursday. You can listen to the game live on 630 CHED, beginning with The Faceoff Show at 4:30 p.m. The actual game starts at 6 p.m.
–With files from David Boles, 630 CHED
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