Draisaitl sparks Oilers with NHL-leading 21st goal and 3 assists in 7-1 win over Wild

By DAVE CAMPBELL The Associated Press

Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl, center, is congratulated for his goal against the Minnesota Wild during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Matt Krohn]

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Leon Draisaitl scored his NHL -leading 21st goal and had three assists, sending the Edmonton Oilers past the Minnesota Wild 7-1 on Thursday night for their fourth straight victory.

Zach Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen, Connor Brown, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Troy Stecher and Derek Ryan also scored for the Oilers, who stopped a six-game losing streak at Minnesota that spanned nearly five years.

Calvin Pickard stopped 27 shots for the Oilers, who handed Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson his first loss in six starts. Gustavsson, who took the NHL’s best goals-against average into the game, gave up five goals in two periods before being pulled for Marc-Andre Fleury.

Freddy Gaudreau had a power-play goal for the Wild (19-6-4), who dropped behind Washington (20-6-2) for the league’s best record. Minnesota trails Winnipeg (29-9-1) in the Central Division but has played two fewer games.

Takeaways

Oilers: Following a rough start, Edmonton has caught stride behind one of the NHL’s most productive skaters, Draisaitl. He has four goals and six assists in his last four games.

Wild: Defenseman Jake Middleton, who entered with a league-best plus-22 rating, departed in the first period with an upper-body injury. Minnesota is missing top-six forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello and another top-four defenseman, Jonas Brodin, to injuries.

Key moment

Minnesota’s Matt Boldy was whistled for tripping with less than seven minutes elapsed, queueing up the league’s 29th-ranked penalty kill.

Five seconds later, Draisaitl one-timed in a feed from co-star Connor McDavid. The goal was later awarded to Hyman, who was pressed against the post to give Draisaitl space but had the puck deflect off his stick shaft. The Wild have yielded 11 power-play goals in 10 games.

Key stat

Draisaitl is on pace for 118 points, which would be 10 shy of his career high from the 2022-23 season.

Up next

Edmonton hosts Vegas on Saturday, when Minnesota hosts Philadelphia.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL