The Minnesota Wild defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-3 on Thursday night (Nov. 21). The final score was not indicative of how this game went. Two of the Oilers’ goals were off lucky bounces, and their third goal was when the game was already out of reach. The Wild controlled the majority of play and got rewarded for their efforts. With that said, here’s your game recap:
Game Recap
The Oilers opened the scoring just 27 seconds into the game on a weird one. Leon Draisaitl cleared the puck from inside his own blue line, and it bounced towards the Wild goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, who whiffed on the bouncing puck and it slipped through his legs and into the back of the net.
Oh no Fleury… pic.twitter.com/kagz0su66S
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 22, 2024
Minnesota thought they tied the game a few minutes later, but the Oilers challenged for offside, which was successful, to maintain their early 1-0 lead. Matt Boldy eventually tied the game for the Wild midway through the opening period. He walked right in and picked his spot through traffic and Stuart Skinner into the Oilers’ net.
After an eventful first period, the Wild took the lead on Marcus Foligno’s fourth of the season just 3:09 into the second period. He got to the loose puck in front of the net, and won a battle against Evan Bouchard, before depositing the puck into the gaping cage.
Edmonton tied the game at two on a wrap-around by veteran Corey Perry. The Oilers’ fourth line won a battle down low, and Perry banked the puck off defenceman Jared Spurgeon, and into the net for his fourth of the season.
The back-and-forth action continued, as Minnesota regained the lead a few minutes later on Marcus Johansson’s second of the season. Troy Stecher fanned on his clearing attempt and the puck ended up on the stick of the Wild forward in the slot, and he made no mistake.
With under five minutes remaining in the middle frame, Wild fans collectively held their breath as Kirill Kaprizov got hit in the open ice by Drake Caggiula. The superstar forward was shaken up on the play, but he did return.
Minnesota extended their lead on a goal by Frederick Gaudreau with three minutes remaining in the period. He received a great cross-ice pass from Ryan Hartman, and batted the puck out of the air, past the Oilers’ goaltender.
The Wild seemingly put this game away in the third period on Gaudreau’s second of the game. Minnesota had a 3-on-1, and Jake Middleton shot the puck on the pads, and Gaudreau pounced on the rebound for an easy goal.
Edmonton added a goal late, on a scramble in front of the net, eventually put away by Jeff Skinner with only 25 seconds remaining. But it was too little too late.
Fleury was by far the better goalie, stopping 29 of 32 shots for a .906 save percentage (SV%). Skinner was bad at the other end, only making 21 saves on 26 shots for a putrid .808 SV%.
Both teams are back in action on Saturday (Nov. 23). The Wild are in Calgary to play the Flames in a matinee, and the Oilers host the New York Rangers in the late game on Hockey Night in Canada.
