It’s safe to say that the Edmonton Oilers avenged themselves from three weeks ago.
On Thursday evening, they headed on a brief one-game road trip to the Twin Cities to take on the Wild. Despite having not won a game in Minnesota in over five years, the Oilers saw and conquered, defeating the Central Division leaders 7-1 to bring their record to 17-10-2 on the season.
The Oilers opened the scoring seven minutes into the game. Connor McDavid found Leon Draisaitl on the doorstep seconds into the team’s first power-play opportunity of the game, and the big German banged the puck into the net off of Zach Hyman.
With four minutes left in the opening frame, Edmonton extended their lead as Kasperi Kapanen scored his second goal with the team since being claimed off of waivers. Leon Draisaitl carried the puck around Minnesota’s zone, passed it out in front to Kapanen, and the speedy Finn buried it past Marc-Andre Fleury to make the score 2-0. 
The Wild cut the lead in half before the end of the first period, making it 2-1 at the first intermission. Close game, right? Nope. Two minutes into the second period, Connor Brown scored his first goal since Edmonton’s 7-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks just over one month ago. 
With seven minutes left in the second period and three seconds left on a power-play opportunity, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his fifth of the season, tapping in a loose rebound to give the Oilers a 4-1 lead.
The lead kept growing, as Draisaitl scored his 21st of the season with four minutes left in the second. Evan Bouchard made a questionable pass back to Draisaitl, who scored his second flukey goal against the Wild this season. We’ll take them.
Nearly seven minutes into the third period, Troy Stecher scored his second of the season from the point to give the Oilers a 6-1 lead.
The Oilers converted the extra point with just over two minutes left in the game, as Derek Ryan tipped the puck past the Wild netminder for the Oilers to win this one 7-1.

Takeaways…

With Derek Ryan’s late goal, every single Oiler forward currently on the roster now has at least one goal this season. The only players who’ve played at least one game but haven’t scored a goal are Travis Dermott, Josh Brown, Drake Caggiula, Noah Philp, and Ty Emberson. Well, and the goalies.
Leon Draisaitl’s 21 goals lead the league in that category. He also had a four-point night, picking up three assists even though the first Oiler goal was initially credited to the German superstar. Other players with a multi-point night were Connor Brown, Vasily Podkolzin, Connor McDavid, Darnell Nurse, and Evan Bouchard. We love Point Night. 
Edmonton’s netminders continue to play strong, as Calvin Pickard saved 29 of 30 shots for a .967 save percentage. Paired with Stuart Skinner’s run of great games, the two netminders are a big reason for the Oilers’ 11-3-1 record in their last 15 games.
The Oilers penalty kill managed to kill two of three opportunities they gave the Wild, with Minnesota’s only goal coming late on the power play. The Oilers’ power play has been much better as of late, as they went 2-for-4.
Edmonton’s gauntlet schedule continues on Saturday afternoon, as they host the Vegas Golden Knights at 2:00 PM MT in the penultimate showdown between the two teams of the regular season.
Vegas beat Edmonton in regulation in both of their previous meetings this season and the fourth and last time they’ll play the 2023 Stanley Cup Champions is all the way on April Fools. The Golden Knights defeated the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, giving them 41 points to Edmonton’s 36 points, so this is a very big game in the Pacific Division standings.
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