Koivu's OT goal lifts Wild past Oilers
EDMONTON, Alberta -- Mikko Koivu scored the winner at 3:11 of overtime, giving the Minnesota Wild a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
Koivu busted into the Oilers zone, danced around goalie Jonas Gustavsson and deposited a backhanded effort.
Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk, who played 171 games as an Oiler, made 28 saves to earn the win.
The Oilers' fourth line opened the scoring just 2:56 into the game. Patrick Maroon was positioned perfectly in front of the net to bang home the rebound from a Mark Fayne point shot.
The same line made more waves on its next shift, as Zack Kassian was sprung on a breakaway. His first effort went wide, but he found the puck behind the net, forcing Dubnyk to stop his wraparound attempt.
With just over six minutes left in the first, the Oilers fourth line was out again when defenseman Kris Russell' shot hit the post, leading to a scramble that saw Dubnyk forced to make another close-range stop on Kassian.
Kassian then got into a fight with Wild right winger Kurtis Gabriel with 1:36 left in the first.
But, despite carrying almost all of the momentum through the first, the Oilers surrendered the tying goal with 54 seconds left. Charlie Coyle scored, with an assist from Eric Staal. In the previous three games, the trio of Coyle, Staal and Zach Parise had combined for just one point, and were publicly called out by coach Bruce Boudreau in the lead-up to the game.
Parise got a breakaway chance that Gustavsson turned away.
The Oilers then got a scare; Connor McDavid, the NHL's leading scorer, got a lot of attention from the Wild and, after a few blows to the head, the team got the call from Toronto -- McDavid would have to undergo the 15-minute concussion protocol.
McDavid was knocked to the ice by Minnesota Wild defenseman Nate Prosser, McDavid went to the ice, lost his helmet, and Prosser delivered another blow to McDavid. Prosser was not penalized on the play.
Oilers assistant captain Milan Lucic confronted Prosser after the play, but the Wild defenseman did not oblige the invitation to fight. Lucic was assessed a two-minute minor for slashing.
Later in the period, McDavid's head hit the ice after he was tripped by Wild defensemen Jared Spurgeon.
But McDavid returned to the ice to start the third period.
While McDavid was out, Parise had a shot go off the post with about a minute left in the second.
Parise had another great chance with eight minutes left in the third. Gustavsson made a sprawling stop on a Tyler Graovac breakaway, but Parise's attempt to shovel home the rebound went just wide.
NOTES: This marks only the second time this season that the Oilers have played on back-to-back days. ... Oilers G Jonas Gustavsson made just his third start of the season; the reason he has been used so sparingly is because of the lack of back-to-backs on the Oilers schedule. ... Oilers D Brandon Davidson, who has been on injured reserve since the start of the season, is skating with the team and is expecting to travel on the upcoming road trip. ... Four of the five previous Wild road games have gone to either overtime or a shootout. ... The Wild scratched D Christian Folin, D Gustav Olofsson and RW Zack Mitchell. ... The Oilers scratched C Matt Hendricks, RW Jesse Puljujarvi and D Dillon Simpson.