ST. PAUL, Minn. — A first-period parade to the penalty box by the Edmonton Oilers wasn’t that advantageous for the Minnesota 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 night at Xcel Energy Center in another letdown for the Wild against a contender.

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.

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 Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche.

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

After the Oilers’ Darnell Nurse was penalized for hooking, Matt Boldy capitalized on the ensuing power play with 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.

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 on Dec. 27 with a lower-body injury.

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.

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 Chisholm’s skate.

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.

The Wild finished down a forward, with Marcus Johansson leaving with an upper-body injury after catching an elbow from McDavid near the end of the second period. McDavid wasn’t penalized on the play.

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

____

©2025 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.