December 9, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

Streaks were the story at Rogers Place on Friday night. The Edmonton Oilers beat the Minnesota Wild to snap a nine game losing streak at the hands of the Wild. Connor McDavid scored a goal in his seventh straight game in the victory.

The Oilers got out to a quick start by scoring two goals in the first period. The Wild had a goal called back on goaltender interference, then scored a goal that counted moments later to cut the lead in half at the end of the period. They tied the game seconds after a five-on-three advantage early in the second period. Kailer Yamamoto gave the Oilers the lead late in the period, and Leon Draisaitl provided the insurance marker in the third.

Call Outs:

Joel Eriksson Ek played Darnell Nurse like a fiddle on his goal. Nurse got the puck in the left corner. Eriksson Ek got into Nurse’s blind spot and gave him a tap on his right hip. Nurse quickly reversed the puck to his left after feeling the tap on his right hip. However, Eriksson Ek was planning to go to Nurse’s left all along. He read the pass, picked it off, walked out front, and made a nice move on Stuart Skinner to score the goal. That was a brain fart by Nurse. He was a bit too casual on that giveaway.

Stand Outs:

Stuart Skinner was poised. Skinner made 42 saves on the night. He was beaten on a great deke by Eriksson Ek as described above, and on a perfect shot by Mats Zuccarello seconds after a five-on-three. It took perfection to beat him tonight. His best work came early when he laid down in the crease and stretched his arm across the goal line. The puck did slide across the line, but the goal was called back on goaltender interference. He did well to hold his ground in that scenario. Skinner made everything else look pretty easy tonight, and the Oilers needed that against a team that has had their number in recent years.

An empty netter capped a three point night for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. His first assist came on McDavid’s powerplay goal where he reached around a Wild defender’s stick then threaded a pass across the seam to a wide open McDavid. The Wild’s aggressive penalty killing cost them on Leon Draisaitl’s powerplay goal. Nugent-Hopkins got the puck on the left half wall, then got it to McDavid in the corner. Nugent-Hopkins beat his man to the middle of the ice and accepted a return pass from McDavid. Then came a quick pass to Draisaitl, who had all day to walk into a one-timer with an open net. Nugent-Hopkins’s stellar play has been needed by the Oilers, and it’s great to see the points coming in bunches for the 2011 1st overall pick.

Shout Outs:

I’ll get the obvious and obligatory acknowledgement of McDavid and Draisaitl’s play out of the way early. McDavid had a goal and an assist, and Draisaitl had a goal and two assists. Multi-point nights have become the norm for these two superstars.

Derek Ryan scored AGAIN! He has now scored in back-to-back games for the second time this season. This time the goal came off some dirty work in front of the net. He was pushed after scoring the goal, and he gave it right back, which was good to see.

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Klim Kostin came to Ryan’s defence and shielded him from attacking Wild players during that goal celebration. Kostin got an assist on the goal and after the goal! This was Kostin’s best game as an Oiler in my opinion. The assist was the result of him intercepting a pass and firing a shot on net. He showed off his hands by deking around Wild defenders on multiple occasions. He looks confident right now, which is a rare thing to say about an Oilers bottom six forward. He’s quickly earning a permanent spot in the lineup.

Kailer Yamamoto finally got his first goal of the season. He went to the net and got rewarded with a tip-in goal. He’s got three points since returning to the lineup. It appears that the recovery time did wonders for him.

Evan Bouchard didn’t appear on the scoresheet, but I loved his game tonight. I noticed his physicality on display on multiple shifts in the game. He tied up a Wild attacker’s stick in the slot and kicked the puck out of harm’s way in the first period. Bouchard did solid work to obstruct a WIld forward from going to the net from the corner in the third period. The two players were chest to chest fighting for space by the net while the puck was at the point. I noticed that he made a similar play shortly before being benched in the Washington game as well. He had a shift where kept an attacker to the outside along the right wall and pinned him against the boards, then made another hit moments later. This was the most physical that I have ever seen Bouchard in a single game. It’s a sign that his game is evolving. He already has top pairing offensive ability. If he can pair that with consistent physical play in his own end, we might just have a legitimate top pairing defenceman on our hands.

I noticed Philip Broberg using his body position and strength to break up a cycle on the same shift where Bouchard kept the Wild forward to the outside as well. I keep seeing and hearing comments about how soft Broberg is and how he’s prone to getting hit all the time. That’s not what I see. I see a young player that has figured out how to play low event hockey in his own zone. We’ve seen glimpses of what he can do in the offensive zone. That’s a top four defenceman in the making.

The Oilers will need to bottle whatever they used to win this game and bring it with them to St. Paul for Monday’s rematch against the Wild.