Wild dominates play in 5-1 win over Edmonton

The Oilers scored only once, but they did generate other offense — just for the Wild.

After putting on a forechecking clinic, up-ice pressure that led to turnovers before nearly all its goals, the Wild schooled Edmonton 5-1 on Tuesday in front of 19,035 for the team's ninth win over its past 10 games at Xcel Energy Center.

"That's when we have success," coach Dean Evason said. "We're in on pucks. We're dislodging. We're having good sticks, and we're getting opportunities because of it."

Kevin Fiala and Ryan Hartman were among the beneficiaries of the Oilers' miscues, with each tallying two goals, and Kirill Kaprizov surpassed 90 points after a pair of assists as the Wild tied the franchise record for goals in a season at 263.

In net, Cam Talbot stopped all but one of the 28 shots he faced to record his 198th career victory while improving to 10-0-2 over his past 12 starts.

BOXSCORE: Wild 5, Edmonton 1

This combination lifted the Wild back into second place in the Central Division after a Blues win earlier in the evening briefly demoted the team to third.

Both have 96 points, but the Wild currently has the edge because it's played one fewer game. That second seed will host a first-round playoff matchup vs. the third finisher.

"All the teams want that Game 7, if there is a Game 7, at home," Fiala said. "That's a huge advantage."

Frederick Gaudreau was the first to capitalize for the Wild, taking an errant feed from Edmonton defenseman Duncan Keith to the front of the net and sliding the puck around goalie Mikko Koskinen at 5 minutes, 37 seconds of the first period.

Later, Fiala forced a giveaway that eventually ended up back on his stick courtesy of a Matt Boldy pass that Fiala flung by Koskinen at 3:01.

Then at 9:40, Fiala scooped up a poor clearing attempt and wired in the puck from a challenging angle along the goal line.

That was Fiala's 26th goal, a career high that's third most on the Wild. Fiala has four multi-goal games this season and 10 points in his past 11 games.

This goal also came while Fiala was getting double shifted because Jordan Greenway left the first period with an upper-body injury, and his absence is likely to linger because Greenway isn't expected to go on the upcoming two-game road trip to Dallas and St. Louis.

"He'll likely stay home and get treatments and will heal and rest him right up," Evason said.

Despite playing down a forward, the Wild still outshined the Oilers.

At 13:12 of the second, Hartman tallied his first goal of the game when he finished off a feed from Kaprizov in front after Kaprizov pried the puck off Edmonton along the boards. Just 3:22 into the third, Hartman sealed his third multi-goal effort of the season after burying a rebound by Koskinen, who had 18 saves. Hartman's 29 goals trail only Kaprizov (42) on the team, and he's up to 13 points over his past 14 games.

As for Kaprizov, who also assisted on Hartman's second goal, he's at 91 points. With 49 assists, he's one shy of tying linemate Mats Zuccarello and Pierre-Marc Bouchard (2007-08) for the single season franchise record.

"He lost the puck and took it away and outbattled, outmuscled three guys," Hartman said of Kaprizov. "He's a really strong kid, and I just tried to be in the right place for him."

Hartman actually exited early, getting a 10-minute misconduct in the third along with the Oilers' Evander Kane after Kane cross-checked Kaprizov and Hartman stepped in as a scrum ensued.

"He gave Kirill a shot from behind in a very vulnerable spot," Hartman said. "It goes to show we had five guys in there. They didn't have one guy in there to help him."

The Wild was awarded a power play but didn't score to go 0-for-3. Edmonton went 1-for-3, with Leon Draisaitl's marker at 5:39 of the third its only goal.

NHL leading scorer Connor McDavid didn't register a point, another example of how textbook the Wild played to continue its prowess at home where the team has won nine of the past 10 games and is 26-7-2 overall.

"We were really disciplined," said Jonas Brodin, who shut down McDavid and was a plus-3. "Talbs was awesome, too. He made some big stops in the beginning there. It was good all-around."