Talbot denies old team, Wild top Oilers 4-1 for 7th straight
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Cam Talbot made 38 saves against his former team and the Minnesota Wild shut down the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Tuesday night for their seventh straight victory.
Joel Eriksson Ek had a goal and an assist. Marcus Foligno, Victor Rask and Dmitry Kulikov also scored for the Wild (18-6-1), off to the best start in franchise history with 37 points through 25 games.
Jesse Puljujarvi scored for the Oilers (16-8-0), who have lost three in a row.
The Oilers once again found themselves down early as Minnesota opened the scoring just 1:11 in on the power play. Eriksson Ek poked in a puck that Edmonton goalie Mikko Koskinen had jammed against the post with his skate for his 10th goal of the season.
The Wild made it 2-0 seven minutes into the first period as Matt Dumba made a nice feed to a hard-charging Foligno, who redirected the puck into the net for his 11th.
Edmonton got a goal back 6 1/2 minutes into the second as Connor McDavid fed Puljujarvi during a battle in front, and he sent the puck past Talbot.
The Oilers outshot Minnesota 20-6 in the period.
Minnesota restored its two-goal lead 5 1/2 minutes into the third as Jonas Brodin sent the puck through to Rask, who had a wide-open net to shoot at before Koskinen could get across.
The Wild put the game away with five minutes remaining as Kirill Kaprizov sprung Kulikov for a rare defenseman breakaway and he made the most of it, undressing Koskinen for his third goal of the season.
NOTES: Wild captain Jared Spurgeon (lower body) missed his eighth game, while teammate Frederick Gaudreau was out due to COVID-19 protocol. Missing from the Oilers’ lineup were G Mike Smith (lower body), Slater Koekkoek (lower body), Duncan Keith (upper body) and Cody Ceci (COVID-19 protocol). … Oilers forward Devin Shore returned after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury. Edmonton put forward Brendan Perlini on waivers to make room on the roster. … Edmonton has scored the first goal in only nine of 24 games this season, winning all nine.
UP NEXT
Wild: At the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, the second stop on a four-game trip.
Oilers: Host the Boston Bruins on Thursday in the third game of a six-game homestand.
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