Wild nets late goal to slip past Oilers

[January 28, 2015]  EDMONTON, Alberta -- The Minnesota Wild were so concerned about the teams ahead of them in the standings that they almost got mugged by a team miles behind.

The Wild needed a gift late in the third period to break open a 1-1 tie and post a nail-biting 2-1 decision over the 29th place Edmonton Oilers.

Charlie Coyle jumped on a terrible turnover by Oilers winger Jordan Eberle at the Minnesota blue line and delivered the winner with a highlight reel goal to help the Wild avert disaster.

Minnesota improves to 21-20-6 with the win.

"It's always hard that first game back from a long break," explained Minnesota left winger Zach Parise, blaming the close call on rust from the All-Star break. "It's really hard when you haven't felt the puck or you don't have your legs. That first game coming back is always a tough one."

Tough to watch, too.

"It was a pretty boring game," laughed Parise. "There was not much going either way, just a lot of chipping pucks, throwing it off the glass, not much in the way of sustained pressure either way.

"But fortunately we were able to win, but there was not much going on."

The Wild, who began the stretch drive seven points out of the final wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference, got off to the start they were looking for, thanks to Oilers right winger Nail Yakupov, who decided to carry the puck through traffic in front of his own net, turning the puck over to Nino Niederreiter, who made it 1-0 Minnesota at 9:09.

"We could have managed the puck a lot better," said Oilers head coach Todd Nelson, after Edmonton's quest to win three in a row for the first time since late October ended in a flurry of costly mistakes and missed opportunities.

"I thought we fought it tonight, especially early on. Then we had some really good chances in the third period to score some goals we just didn't capitalize."

Former Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk gave the Oilers fits all night, improving his record against his old team to 4-0 (three with Arizona and now one with the Wild).

"I don't know why that is," he said. "They've been good games, three of the four games have been 2-1.

"Those guys have played well over there, but it's always a fun challenge. I know how skilled they are and it's always a little more fun stopping your buddies and fortunately I've been on the right side of it this year."

Edmonton broke through for its only goal of the game when center Boyd Gordon's attempted wraparound hit Wild center Kyle Brodziak on the skate and went in to tie it late in the second.

It was still 1-1 with five minutes left in the third when Eberle served up the game winning turnover.

"In the last five minutes you have to manage the puck, but it was an unlucky break," said Nelson. "We had some turnovers tonight and two of them were costly."

And they couldn't generate enough offence to make up for them.

"That's what good teams do, they find a way to help their buddies out," said winger Ted Purcell. "Everybody makes mistakes throughout the year. Tonight we didn't have enough run support to help our buddies out."

The Oilers fell to 12-27-9.

It was physical contest on both sides. Wild winger Zach Parise left the game with a bloody mouth in the first period after being hit with the puck. He returned in the second period after some significant patch work.

And a few minutes into the third period, Yakupov crushed Wild defenseman Nate Prosser behind the net, sending him to the dressing room a few minutes into the third period. He returned late in the game.

NOTES: After missing 13 games because of a broken wrist and subsequent surgery, Wild C Mikael Granlund returned to the lineup Tuesday. He played between RW Thomas Vanek and LW Zach Parise. ... Minnesota assigned G Darcy Kuemper to Iowa of the AHL for a conditioning stint. The Wild also recalled D Stu Bickell. ... Oilers LW Taylor Hall took a puck on the leg in practice Monday and wasn't able to go Tuesday against the Wild. He's being examined further to determine the extent of the damage. ... In the first 48 games of the season, Oilers G Viktor Fasth doesn't have a home-ice win and Oilers G Ben Scrivens doesn't have a road win. ... Oilers C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins leads all NHL forwards in minutes played per game (21:17).

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