Since they entered the NHL in 2000, few teams have had the number of the Edmonton Oilers more than the Minnesota Wild.
The Oilers had gone 38-53-4-10 in their 105 games against them ahead of Wednesday’s game, getting outscored 299-247, and it didn’t take long for it to seem to continue that way last night. It took all of three minutes for the Wild to get on the board, as their first shot of the game saw Matt Boldy roof a puck over Calvin Pickard. Another 13 minutes later, and it was suddenly 2-0, as his linemate Marco Rossi extended the Wild lead.
What’s worth noting was just how those goals were scored, though, as both came on the man advantage. The Oilers were undisciplined in that first frame, as Darnell Nurse, Mattias Janmark and Josh Brown all took minor penalties, the first and last of which Minnesota made Edmonton pay.
The game seemed to have all the markings of one of those previous hundred-plus games: Minnesota gets up early, they play tight defensive hockey, and the Oilers lose. But that wasn’t what happened, as Edmonton pushed back, and by the end of the first, a 2-0 deficit turned into a 2-2 tie, as Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid — with a power play goal of his own — would tie things up.
“I liked our response, and it started with Hyman’s goal, and then the power play goal, and we were able to fortunately go into the second period with a tie game,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch.
And while the Oilers gave up another goal against, this time to Ryan Hartman four minutes in after Pickard slammed the door on him previously, that was about as much as the Wild would muster.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would tie it up late in the third, while it took Vasily Podkolzin all of a minute and a half into the third to get Edmonton their first lead of the night. McDavid’s second of the game would seal it.
So what was the key for the Oilers? Flipping the script on the Wild with strong defensive play. They would do a good job of limiting what Minnesota was able to generate, flushing them to the outside, and locking things down defensively.
It’s a new brand for Edmonton, who have long been known for playing high-flying games in which the defensive zone often felt like a thought experiment rather than a place they needed to focus their play. But that’s changed this season, as anything the Oilers are doing begins in their own zone.
If they’re so committed to their defensive zone play, then why are there still games like last nights, where they give up early leads?
“I think our guys like a challenge. Unfortunately, it’s making me age a little quicker than I would like,” Knoblauch said with a laugh. “I’d like for us to get up three early and just cruise to a nice victory, but the guys, obviously they dig in and can handle adversity when things aren’t going well — they don’t pack it in.“I absolutely love the character of the team.”
And so, coupling this win with a November 21st loss to Minnesota and a 7-1 win on Dec. 12th, the Oilers come out on top of their season series with the Wild for the first time since the 2018-19 season. It’s only the sixth time the Oilers have won the season series with the Wild since they entered the league.
A three-game road trip continues tonight as the Oilers visit the Colorado Avalanche, before closing it Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks.
