EDMONTON, ALBERTA – The Wild – repeat, the Wild! – has the best points percentage in the NHL.
The Wild’s 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers coupled with the Washington Capitals losing in Brooklyn on Tuesday night gave the Wild a league-best .724 points percentage and provided the Western Conference leaders with 71 points in 49 games – one shy of the Capitals for most in the NHL.
The West-leaders with 33 wins and 163 goals scored five more times and chased its ninth goaltender from net this season. Fourth-line center Tyler Graovac picked up his first two-goal game of his career and first two-game goal streak of his career.
Jason Zucker, Zach Parise and Chris Stewart also scored the Wild, which extended its franchise-record road point streak to 14 games (12-0-2). The Wild, which followed a 12-win December with a 10-win January, hasn’t lost in regulation on the road since Nov. 19. It has averaged 4.1 goals per game (90 goals) in the past 22.
It was an impressive win for Minnesota, which won in Edmonton for an eight straight occasion. The Oilers had lost in regulation in eight games, but the Oilers had trouble all night handling the Wild’s aggressive forecheck.
The Wild improved to 13-3-1 in its past 17 meetings against the Oilers.
Darcy ilbet Kuemper tied a career-high with 41 saves (the most by either Wild goalie this season) for his sixth win.
With the game scoreless at the 13:09 mark, Graovac, who scored the winning goal against St. Louis to enter the All-Star break, slid a shot from the goalmouth past Cam Talbot after a solid shift by the fourth line.
Then, with 3.6 seconds left in the period, Zucker scored his 15th goal of the season when Mikko Koivu won a puck battle along the wall and the puck squirted right to Zucker, who turned and shot. Zucker, who also assisted on Stewart’s goal and went plus-3 to improve to a league-best plus-30, has nine goals and 18 points in the past 18 games. Koivu has 30 points and is plus-27 in his past 31 games.
The Wild made it 3-0 early in the second period when Parise ended a 10-game goal drought. Jason Pominville set Parise up at Talbot’s doorstep from behind the net, and Parise buried his own rebound with a backhand from one knee.
The Oilers trimmed the deficit to 3-1, but Graovac gave the Wild a three-goal lead again after executing a beautiful give-and-go with Mikael Granlund after Granlund forced a turnover by batting an Oilers’ exit pass out of the air.
Granlund extended his point streak to 10 games, tying Erik Haula and Andrew Brunette’s franchise record.
That goal ended Talbot’s night for Laurent Brossoit.
After the Wild killed a Kuemper minor in the third, Stewart scored his 11th goal coming out of the box by using Zucker as a decoy.
The Wild’s 22-3-1 since an overtime win in Edmonton on Dec. 4. The Wild’s 110 points against Edmonton are its most against any franchise and its 24 wins in Edmonton and 50 wins overall are the most against any franchise.
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