Wild get only two-thirds of the way there against Edmonton, sink 5-3 on final-period goals

A first-period parade to the penalty box by the Oilers wasn’t that advantageous for the Wild.

Why?

Because Edmonton’s stars were rested and raring to go.

Despite the power play gifting the Wild a two-goal head start, the Oilers rallied 5-3 Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center in another letdown for the Wild against a contender.

“I feel disappointed for our team tonight because I thought that we had a real strong effort,” coach John Hynes said. “I thought we played well enough to win the game.”

Led by Connor McDavid’s goal and assist en route to a historic three-point night, Edmonton’s top line erased its early deficit before an own goal against the Wild during the third period broke a 3-3 tie and lifted the reigning conference champs one point ahead of the Wild in the West.

Only 1 minute, 28 seconds into the third, Vasily Podkolzin’s throw to the middle deflected into the Wild net off Declan Chisholm’s skate. McDavid polished off the comeback at 12:49 when he snuck a shot under the crossbar from almost the goal line during a 2-on-1 rush for his 1,044th career point to pass Jari Kurri for second in scoring in Edmonton history, behind only Wayne Gretzky’s 1,669 points.

“We’ve done a pretty good job with games like this before,” Joel Eriksson Ek said. “So, for us, I think it’s just try to get back to it. We know we don’t have to force chances. If we just stick with it and let the chances come to us, I think we can be on the winning side.”

Earlier, McDavid elbowed Marcus Johansson late in the second period but wasn’t penalized. Johansson left with an upper-body injury that Hynes anticipated would sideline Johansson for a little while.

“He said he got his own stick in the face,” Eriksson Ek said when asked what the official told him about the Johansson injury.

This was the Wild’s third loss in their past four games to one of their neighbors at the top of the conference after also falling to the Golden Knights and Avalanche.

Those teams pulled away from the Wild during the third period, and Edmonton followed suit to put an exclamation point on the 180 after the Wild were in control at the start.

“That’s what makes the league hard,” Hynes said. “You can play well sometimes and not win.”

After the Oilers’ Darnell Nurse was penalized for hooking, Matt Boldy capitalized on the ensuing power play during an impressive individual effort: Boldy cut to the inside and flung the puck by Edmonton backup goalie Calvin Pickard at 3:02 of the first period while surrounded by Oilers.

Edmonton was back in the penalty box less than five minutes later and although the Oilers killed off that Wild power play, they weren’t as successful when they were dinged a third time. Boldy curled away from Nurse, ditching him to send a backhander through the crease for Marco Rossi for the one-timer at 16:11.

“It was more of I think the style of power play that gives us the best chance to be difficult to play against,” Hynes said. “It brought energy to the team, to the building. We scored. On the one we didn’t score, we had a multitude of looks, great intensity, puck movement, shots, puck retrievals, all the things that when our power play is really going, that’s what it looks like. So, it was on tonight.”

Rossi and Boldy have 17 goals apiece, tied for second on the team behind the 23 from Kirill Kaprizov, who missed a 10th straight game after participating in his first team skate Wednesday morning since being sidelined Dec. 27 with a lower-body injury. The two also logged career highs in ice time, with Rossi at 24:51 and Boldy 26:55.

After assisting on both goals, Mats Zuccarello tied Marian Gaborik for the sixth-most assists in franchise history at 218.

But the 2-for-3 boost by the power play wasn’t enough to sustain the Wild.

Just 21 seconds after Rossi’s goal, Edmonton retaliated when Zach Hyman slid a backhander five-hole on goalie Filip Gustavsson. Then with 1:32 on their lone power play, the Oilers pulled even on a blistering McDavid one-timer from the right side off a slick setup by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

“It’s part of the game,” Boldy said. “When you get those guys on the ice where they can score, whenever, they can make almost every play out there. They’re great players. That’s what they do, and they were able to find a way to tie it up in the first.”

BOXSCORE: Edmonton 5, Wild 3

NHL standings

The Wild regained the lead only 4:09 into the second when Ryan Hartman buried his own rebound after he pounced on an Edmonton faceoff win left unattended for his second goal in as many games.

But the Wild never extended their buffer, and that cost them: With 5:45 to go in the second, Nugent-Hopkins tipped in a point shot before the Oilers scored again off the skate of Chisholm, who also played a career high at 26:57.

After the puck crossed the line, Nurse crashed into Gustavsson, but the puck was already behind Gustavsson when the collision happened, so it didn’t negate the goal.

Gustavsson remained in the crease, totaling 31 saves, as did Pickard, who had a clutch stop against Boldy seconds before McDavid’s insurance marker.

“They throw it into the slot, and it goes in,” Hynes said. “We had four or five of those that didn’t go in. Even on McDavid’s: It wasn’t like we had a breakdown. It was a bad bounce, and it was a bad bounce to the right player, and he made a great play.”

The Wild had 12 third-period shots — four times more than they registered against Vegas in that 4-1 loss last Sunday — and they kept the pressure on despite being down a forward in Johansson’s absence.

Already, the Wild are missing defensemen Jonas Brodin and Brock Faber, captain Jared Spurgeon and forward Jakub Lauko aside from Kaprizov.

“We’re still competing against these top teams, and we are missing some weapons in our lineup,” Jake Middleton said. “So, I do, I think we are right there. We haven’t pulled away as of late, but we are right there.”