Wild 4, Oilers 2
Antti Miettinen and defenseman Marek Zidlicky scored 35 seconds apart in the first period and the Minnesota Wild went on to snap their four-game home losing streak with a 4-2 triumph over the hapless Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
Brad Staubitz and All-Star Martin Havlat also tallied while Niklas Backstrom made 33 saves for the Wild, who have won two straight following an eight-game slide. Backstrom improved to 14-0 at home against the Oilers.
Defenseman Tom Gilbert and rookie Linus Omark converted power-play opportunities for Edmonton, which has scored only 13 goals during its 11-game losing streak. The Oilers have dropped seven straight road contests and five consecutive meetings with the Wild.
Miettinen opened the scoring during a man advantage at 7:24 of the first with his fourth goal in six games and Zidlicky doubled the lead shortly thereafter by converting a pass from Pierre-Marc Bouchard in the slot.
Staubitz tallied at 6:23 of the second and Havlat made it 4-0 less than seven minutes later, beating Nikolai Khabibulin with a slap shot from the left faceoff circle for his second goal in 14 contests.