Wild pull out 6-5 win over Oilers


Reuters | California | Updated: 13-12-2019 11:16 IST | Created: 13-12-2019 10:59 IST
Wild pull out 6-5 win over Oilers
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Eric Staal, Jordan Greenway, Jason Zucker and Luke Kunin each had a goal and an assist as the Minnesota Wild extended their home point streak to 11 games with a wild 6-5 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night in Saint Paul, Minn. Marcus Foligno and Ryan Donato also scored goals for Minnesota, which improved to 8-0-3 in its past 11 home games, the second-longest home point streak in team history. The Wild had a 13-game streak (10-0-3) from Dec. 27, 2017 to Feb. 13, 2018.

Minnesota goalie Kaapo Kahkonen finished with 28 saves. Carson Soucy added two assists for the Wild. Connor McDavid, Oscar Klefbom and James Neal each had a goal and an assist, and Leon Draisaitl and Gaetan Haas also scored for Edmonton, which lost its third straight game (0-2-1). Mike Smith finished with 20 saves.

Edmonton, shut out 3-0 by the Wild in the only previous meeting between the teams this season on Oct. 22, needed only eight minutes to take a 1-0 lead when Klefbom, cutting in alone in the slot, beat Kahkonen with a backhand shot for his third goal of the season. Minnesota came back to lead 2-1 by the end of the period. Greenway tied it when Soucy's shot from the left point bounced off Smith's glove and then off Greenway's back and into the goal at 12:35. Zucker then put the Wild ahead when he broke in a breakaway on the left-wing and then roofed a backhand shot on Smith's glove side at 19:42.

The Oilers tied it at the two-minute mark of the second period on a power-play goal by Draisaitl from the right doorstep. But Minnesota answered with two goals in a little over four minutes to take a 4-2 lead on tallies by Foligno and Donato. Haas cut it to 4-3 midway through the third period with a deflection of an Adam Larsson shot from the right point. McDavid tied it two minutes later when he swept Ethan Bear's cross-ice pass past Kahkonen's glove side.

Staal then put Minnesota ahead to stay with 4:47 to go when he one-timed a Zucker pass from the right circle past Smith's glove side, and Kunin added an insurance goal 68 seconds later. Neal, playing in his 800th NHL game, cut the margin to 6-5 with his 15th goal of the season with 48.7 seconds left. However, Edmonton, despite pulling Smith, couldn't manage another shot after that.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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