ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Wild and Oilers are about to become very familiar foes and if the start of their season series is any indication, these matchups will have no shortage of star power.
With all three delivering highlight-reel goals, the battle between Kirill Kaprizov and Edmonton's dynamic duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl lived up to the hype in a 5-3 showdown that the Wild won on Thursday in front of 17,651 at Xcel Energy Center in the first of three clashes in 12 days between these Western Conference rivals.
Kaprizov kept his career-long point and assist streaks going with three points, while McDavid and Draisaitl picked up a goal and assist each.
But it was a rising backhander from Frederick Gaudreau that decided this chess match, a goal at 13 minutes, 59 seconds of the second period that gave the Wild their first lead and the only advantage they'd need against a visiting squad finishing off a back-to-back.
As for the Wild, they were rested.
This was their first game since Sunday, but it was the Oilers who had the edge early in their third game in four nights.
From his patented spot on the right side, Draisaitl wired in a one-timer on the power play 11:17 into the first period, a tic-tac-toe sequence put in motion by McDavid that resulted in Draisaitl's fifth goal over his past four games.
Only 1:51 into the second, the Wild responded with their own power-play goal.
Joel Eriksson Ek buried the rebound from a Kaprizov shot that bounced off the end boards for his first goal in five games.
The helper extended Kaprizov's point streak to 10 games and set a franchise record for longest assist streak at nine games, a run in which Kaprizov has factored in 11 goals.
This assist was also the 100th of his NHL career, and he's the fastest to reach that milestone among players who made their debut with the Wild.
But the action didn't stay even for long.
Just 2:31 later, Draisaitl set up McDavid on a 2-on-1 for McDavid's NHL-leading 43rd point.
Cue Kaprizov.
He tucked in his team-leading 14th goal on the power play, taking a pass from Matt Boldy and getting off a backhand shot from in tight as he was falling to the ice at 10:53. The Wild power play went 2 for 3, and this was the fourth straight game the unit has capitalized; Edmonton was 1 for 3.
Eriksson Ek's assist sealed his seventh point in four games.
This tie was also extinguished quickly, but the Wild were the ones to surge ahead on Gaudreau's fourth goal.
Then 3:13 into the third, the Wild received a key insurance tally from Sam Steel, who accepted a stretch pass from Mats Zuccarello to skate in alone and deke the puck behind Oilers goalie Jack Campbell for his second goal in as many games. Jon Merrill's assist on the play was his second of the night.
Kaprizov pocketed his second assist of the game on Zuccarello's goal with 8:12 left in the third, and the winger is up to 17 points during his 10-game point streak; his run is two shy of matching the Wild record.
The Oilers trimmed their deficit back to two goals when Klim Kostin scored with four seconds to go.
Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside 18 shots and in the process surpassed Tony Esposito for the fourth-most saves in NHL history.
Perhaps his best stop came in the third on an Edmonton power play, his blocker getting just enough of a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shot to keep the puck out of the Wild net.
Fleury is up to 24,771 saves in his career. Campbell had 25 stops for Edmonton.
The Wild have now won seven straight vs. the Oilers, a streak that started Oct. 22, 2019.
