EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) Tyler Graovac scored twice and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Tuesday night in a matchup of teams on a tear when the NHL All-Star break arrived.
Jason Zucker, Zach Parise and Chris Stewart also scored for the Wild (33-11-5), who picked up right where they left off coming out of the break. Darcy Kuemper made 41 saves as Minnesota won its third game in a row and improved to 22-3-2 since the beginning of December.
Adam Larsson and Leon Draisaitl each had a goal for the Oilers (28-16-8), who had their three-game winning streak snapped. Edmonton was 7-0-1 in its previous eight games, with the only loss during that stretch coming to Nashville in a shootout.
There was plenty of pressure applied by both teams in the early going, but Minnesota struck first with seven minutes left in the first period as a clearing attempt hit Graovac in the leg and he maneuvered the puck past Oilers goalie Cam Talbot in tight.
The Wild made it 2-0 with 3.6 seconds left in the period when Draisaitl coughed up the puck in front of the net to Zucker, who fired a shot that trickled through Talbot's legs for his 15th of the season.
Parise got to his own rebound and chipped a backhand over Talbot as Minnesota added to its lead four minutes into the second.
Larsson scored with nine minutes left in the period, but Minnesota came right back less than two minutes later to make it 4-1 when Mikael Granlund set up Graovac for his second goal of the night and sixth this season. Talbot got the hook at that point, with backup Laurent Brossoit coming in.
Edmonton cut into the lead with three minutes left in the second when Draisaitl scored his 20th on a power-play one-timer, extending his point streak to seven games.
Minnesota made it a 5-2 game five minutes into the third when Stewart faked a pass on a 2-on-1 and ripped a shot past Brossoit.
NOTES: Minnesota swept the three-game season series, winning the previous two in extra time. ... The Wild have won eight straight in Edmonton since Dec. 22, 2011.
UP NEXT
Wild: Play the second of a four-game road trip in Calgary on Wednesday.
Oilers: Begin a three-game road swing in Nashville on Thursday.
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