Oilers in search of better starts, beginning with matchup vs. Wild
The Edmonton Oilers will look to get off to a better start Saturday night when they host the Minnesota Wild.
Edmonton erased a 3-0 deficit and scored four unanswered goals to top the visiting San Jose Sharks 4-3 in overtime on Thursday.
"As a good team, we need to start better, and that's just hockey," said Kasperi Kapanen, who had an assist in the win. "Sometimes that happens. They're a good team as well. They came out flying and have a good young team with a lot of energy. The first period was bad, and then after that, I thought we were playing better."
Zach Hyman scored the winner while Evan Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl each produced a goal and two assists for the Oilers, who have won three straight for the first time this season and are 6-3-1 in the past 10.
Connor McDavid, who leads the league in assists (60) and points (94), recorded a goal and an assist in the win over the Sharks. Connor Ingram made 18 saves.
"It's nice having three in a row, but more importantly, we beat a team that we need to keep behind us," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. "(San Jose's) got games in hand on us, and we want to finish as high as we can in the standings."
Bouchard extended his point streak to four games (four goals, seven assists) as the Oilers improved to 4-2-0 on their eight-game homestand. McDavid (four goals, five assists) and Draisaitl (one goal, nine assists) extended their streaks to three games.
The Wild will try to slow the Oilers' offensive momentum while aiming to complete a sweep of the three-game season series.
Minnesota won 1-0 at Edmonton on Dec. 2 and picked up a 5-2 home win over the Oilers on Dec. 20.
The Wild just completed a 3-0-1 homestand by winning back-to-back games.
Kirill Kaprizov scored an empty-net goal after notching an assist as the Wild topped the visiting Calgary Flames 4-1 on Thursday night.
Matt Boldy, Vinnie Hinostroza and Danila Yurov also scored for Minnesota, which is 5-1-1 in its past seven games. Filip Gustavsson made 29 saves.
"The one thing I will say is that when you go through 82 games, they're not all going to be Picassos, right?" Wild coach John Hynes said. "Good teams find ways to win, even when you're not at your best. We got the goaltending when we needed it. Obviously, early in the game, or throughout the game, the penalty kill came through for us to keep the score where it was, and then we had our opportunities on the power play.
"We were able to find a way to finish. I think that is a good sign, but I think we all know it wasn't our best tonight."
Kaprizov has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) over his past seven games. Defenseman Quinn Hughes extended his assist streak to seven games with a helper in the win over the Flames, tying the longest stretch by a blueliner in Wild history.