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."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jan/28/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif) 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.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/ads/current/tires250x300.gif)
"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).
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jan/28/images/ads/current/business_directory_filler.png)
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jan/28/images/ads/current/tourism_lda_121014.png) |