Wild 5 - 3 Oilers
Final
  for this game

Brodziak leads Wild past Oilers

Apr 17, 2013 - 5:53 AM Edmonton, AB (Sports Network) - Kyle Brodziak scored twice and Niklas Backstrom made 16 saves to lead the Minnesota Wild past the Edmonton Oilers, 5-3, at Rexall Place.

Zach Parise, Charlie Coyle and Mikael Granlund also scored for the Wild, who won both games of a back-to-back after besting Calgary on Monday.

"Our guys played a great game," Backstrom said.

Minnesota has five tilts remaining and plays at San Jose on Thursday. The Wild trail the Sharks and Kings by two points for the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference.

The Oilers, meanwhile, have put themselves in further danger of missing the postseason for a seventh straight year, as their sixth consecutive loss has them eight points back of the last playoff spot with six to play.

Nail Yakupov had a goal and an assist for Edmonton, while Devan Dubnyk gave up all five goals on 30 shots against.

Brodziak scored 61 seconds into the game off a rebound, and the Oilers tied it late in the opening period when Taylor Hall's pass bounced off several players in front before Yakupov knocked it in with 4:43 left.

Two goals in the first 6:23 of the second period gave the Wild some breathing room. Clayton Stoner's point shot got through traffic and caught a piece of Coyle's stick before finding the back of the net at the 2:56 mark, and Torrey Mitchell's backhand pass set up Granlund's second goal of the season for a 3-1 cushion.

Parise knocked in his own rebound on the power play 20 seconds into the third period, and Brodziak added another tally on a breakaway just 5:14 later.

A power-play goal by Edmonton's Shawn Horcoff at the midway point, followed by Magnus Paajarvi's ninth goal of the season made it 5-3, and that's how it stood despite the Oilers pulling Dubnyk from net with over two minutes to play.

"As the season goes on you have to improve, you have to get better...and we've gone down," Hall said.

Game Notes

The Wild are 16-4-1 when scoring first ... Backstrom improved to 25-3-1 in his career against the Oilers ... Minnesota allowed its first power-play goal in seven games ... Minnesota has won all three meetings with the Oilers this season ... Edmonton was playing its first game under new general manager Craig MacTavish, who replaced the fired Steve Tambellini on Monday.






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