Brodziak nets 2 goals, Wild beats Oilers 5-3

[April 17, 2013]  EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- Kyle Brodziak scored a pair of goals, and the Minnesota Wild earned another late-season win by topping the Edmonton Oilers 5-3 on Tuesday night.

Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund and Zach Parise also scored for the Wild (24-16-3), who are 2-0-1 in their last three games after losing five of six. Minnesota remained in sixth place in the Western Conference playoff race.

Nail Yakupov, Magnus Paajarvi and Shawn Horcoff had goals for the Oilers (16-19-7), whose slim playoff hopes took another hit. Edmonton has lost six in a row on the heels of a five-game winning streak.

The Oilers again fell behind early as the Wild scored just over a minute in. Brodziak sent a knuckler of a shot on goalie Devan Dubnyk and got in front to knock in the rebound.

Edmonton tied it 1-1 with 15 minutes gone in the opening period as Taylor Hall's shot got caught up in the equipment of Wild defender Brett Clark before falling in front of the net. Yakupov swooped in and scored the 11th goal of his rookie season, beating Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom.

The Wild regained the lead three minutes into the second period as a point shot from Stoner clipped Coyle in front and caromed past a screened Dubnyk to make it 2-1.

Minnesota went up 3-1 three-and-a-half minutes later as a rebound off the boars was tipped out front to Granlund, who slammed the puck into a wide-open net as Dubnyk went the other way.

It took just 20 seconds into the third for the Wild to go up 4-1 with a power-play goal. Parise slid the puck through the crease and went behind the net untouched. He still had time to backhand in his initial shot for his 16th goal.

The Wild went ahead 5-1 five minutes into the third as Jason Pominville sent Brodziak in on a breakaway. Brodziak hit the post with his shot, but Dubnyk put the puck into his own net with his backward momentum.

Edmonton got a goal back at the 10-minute mark as Hall sneaked a pass through the crease to Horcoff, who was stationed in front, and tapped home his seventh goal.

The Oilers made it a bit more interesting less than three minutes later as Yakupov worked in-between traffic before ringing a shot off the post. Paajarvi swooped in to hammer the rebound past Backstrom to make it 5-3.

NOTES: It was the third of four meetings between the teams this season. The Wild have won them all. Minnesota has won four straight against the Oilers and 14 of 17. Minnesota has also won seven of eight in Edmonton. ... It was the Oilers' first game since Monday's announcement that general manager Steve Tambellini was fired, with former head coach Craig MacTavish coming in as his replacement. ... Edmonton called up forwards Anton Lander and Teemu Hartikainen from Oklahoma City of the AHL and inserted both players into the lineup. Ryan Jones and Jarret Smithson came out.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.