In St Paul, Ryan Hartman hit for a pair of goals on Tuesday night to help the Wild down the Edmonton Oilers, 5-1.
“We were happy with the way we played,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “… We talked before the game that we shouldn’t have to talk about our start. We should just be playing. We should just play like we play. That’s what we did and that’s how we play. That’s when we have success. We’re in on pucks, we’re dislodging, we’re having good sticks and we’re getting opportunities because of it, and not only in the offensive zone, but in the defensive zone, too. We exited real well. They had a couple of sustained shifts, but for the most part we did a lot of real good things.”
Cam Talbot made 27 saves in the Minnesota win.
Hartman scored in the middle frame and third period to add to a 3-0 lead the Wild had built.
Leo Draisaitl scored off the power play in the third to make it 5-1.
“Today wasn’t our finest hour,” Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said. “We didn’t come away with any points in a tough building. We can play better.”
Edmonton dropped to 42-26-6.
“I don’t think we’ve played our best in any of the games we’ve played them,” Edmonton’s Zach Hyman said. “We had trouble breaking out, and that’s not just on the D, that’s the whole group coming back supporting each other. We didn’t execute.”
Kevin Fiala hit for a double for the Wild as well.
Minnesota’s s Frederick Gaudreau scored to give them a 1-0 lead.
Mikko Koskinen made 18 saves in the Oilers loss.
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