Leon Draisaitl had a four-point night with one goal and three assists, and the Edmonton Oilers cruised to a 7-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Six other players scored for Edmonton, which won its fourth consecutive game. Connor Brown had a goal and an assist, and Connor McDavid, Darnell Nurse, Evan Bouchard and Vasily Podkolzin finished with two assists apiece.
Frederick Gaudreau scored the lone goal for Minnesota. Brock Faber and Marcus Johansson each notched an assist as the Wild lost the opener of a five-game homestand.
Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard stopped 29 of 30 shots to improve to 7-3-0.
Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson gave up five goals on 26 shots. He was replaced in the third period by Marc-Andre Fleury, who turned aside seven of nine shots.
Edmonton jumped to a 2-1 lead in the first period.
Zach Hyman opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 6:59 of the period. Kasperi Kapanen made it 2-0 with an even-strength goal with 4:20 left.
Gaudreau scored on the power play with 1:11 remaining to pull the Wild within one goal. It was his sixth goal of the season.
The Oilers added three more goals in the second period to increase their lead to 5-1.
Brown started the scoring binge with a short-handed goal 1:55 into the period. Edmonton had an odd-man rush and Brown finished the play with a wrist shot from the left circle for his fourth goal of the season.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins converted a power-play opportunity when he punched in a shot from the front of the crease with 7:04 left in the second period. It was his fifth goal.
Draisaitl made it a four-goal lead with 4:06 to go in the second period. He knocked in a shot for his league-leading 21st goal.
Fleury did little to stem the Oilers’ barrage in the third period.
Troy Stecher netted his second goal with 13:05 remaining to give the Oilers a 6-1 advantage. Stecher scored on a long shot from the blue line as Fleury was screened.
Derek Ryan finished the scoring with his first goal of the season with 2:34 to play.
–Field Level Media
