Wild’s ‘commitment to everything’ shuts down Connor McDavid and the Oilers

ST. PAUL, Minn. — As well as the Wild defended Monday night, as quality a game as they played, as tough a night as Connor McDavid had executing with the puck thanks to the lack of time and space he received from the Wild’s asphyxiating GREEF Line and, particularly, elite skating defenseman Jonas Brodin, the NHL’s most electrifying scorer always seems to find a way to break your heart.

So when Mats Zuccarello took a tripping penalty with 51.3 seconds left to give the Edmonton Oilers a six-on-four for what felt like an eternity to send the game to overtime, let’s just say coach Dean Evason wasn’t exactly confident when his penalty killers — Brodin, Freddy Gaudreau, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jared Spurgeon and, of course, Marc-Andre Fleury — had to stifle McDavid and superstar sidekick Leon Draisaitl one final time.

“We were scared to death. Like, scared to death,” Evason said after the Wild pulled out a 2-1 victory for their sixth win in their past seven home games. “But how we played that whatever close to a minute was great. Our commitment, our grit, our desire to get pucks and win those battles was real good.”

Amen to that.

Fleury stopped two shots on Zach Hyman and Tyson Barrie, then Brodin — one of the rare defensemen in the NHL capable of skating backward stride to stride with McDavid — blocked the Oilers’ studly No. 97 to help expire the clock not long after Gaudreau outmuscled everybody for a desperation clear.

It was Gaudreau who scored the winning goal in the second period, but if you think Gaudreau was proudest of that or his clear, you’d be wrong.

“Proud of Brodes blocking the shot there,” the ultimate team guy said. “That’s what I’m proud of.”

This was the 100th meeting between the Wild and the Oilers and the 60th win by the Wild, who have frankly dominated the Oilers for 18 of Minnesota’s 21 seasons. They have 130 points against them, their most against any franchise. They’re 22-8-1 in their past 30 meetings, and most remarkable, the run of success has continued during the McDavid-Draisaitl era in large part because of Brodin.

He’s that valuable of a player, but Brodin’s quick to remind he gets great help from his teammates, especially the Jordan Greenway–Eriksson Ek–Marcus Foligno line. The trio, especially Greenway, was buzzing all game and played with tremendous tenacity against the McDavid line.

McDavid looked frustrated often, but even when he got some speed, he couldn’t make a play. In the third period, a Matt Dumba turnover led to a three-on-one. He fed defenseman Darnell Nurse on the backdoor, and Fleury felt he got lucky with a save because Nurse got caught in between shooting and passing and simply ran out of space. Later in the period, Foligno shot a puck out of the zone for a McDavid-led three-on-two. As McDavid tried to feed Draisaitl at the goal mouth, Spurgeon, playing his 800th game, fell to his knees and made an impeccable defensive play.

Evason, quite frankly, loved Minnesota’s “commitment to everything.”

He also loved a second straight game of watching Gaudreau, Matt Boldy and Sammy Walker spend lots of time in the offensive zone by flashing speed and skill and fabulous puck support.

Walker, 23, the three-time University of Minnesota captain, was playing his first NHL game at Xcel Energy Center, 20 minutes from where he grew up. His mom, dad and three of his siblings were at the rink and watched him look the part for a second straight game since being recalled from Iowa.

Walker acknowledged jitters got the best of him on an early two-on-one when he lost the puck, but he played with speed, held on to pucks, showed off some sweet dangles and even temporarily had his first NHL point on Gaudreau’s winner. The off-ice officials determined McDavid turned the puck over to spring a Boldy-Gaudreau rush up the ice that ended with Boldy’s magnificent play to complete his 15th career multi-point game by setting up Gaudreau.

It was an outstanding shift that started in the offensive zone with two terrific Boldy chances, then Brodin’s muscling the puck up the boards with one arm before a great play with his skate by Walker along the wall while staring at McDavid.

Gaudreau said it’s a treat to play with Walker and that he has been impressed by his confidence and poise. And Boldy, who had struggled in recent games and has sure missed last year’s linemate, Kevin Fiala, looked jolted for the second game in a row on the opposite wing from the talented Walker.

“He’s been fitting in awesome,” Boldy said of the Edina native. “I think tonight he had a lot more confidence in his own game, just being a little bit more poised with the puck and making more plays, and I think it’s only going to get better. He’s super smart. He knows how to get into certain spots to make easy plays, too.”

Walker said it was stunning at times to look across from him and see McDavid and Draisaitl on the same sheet of ice.

“I’m like, ‘Should I get off?’” Walker said, smiling. “Yeah … it’s crazy.”

Good thing he didn’t get off the ice because, again, it was Walker’s play along the boards that led to Gaudreau’s winning goal — whether Walker got the milestone first point or not.

“He’ll get another,” teammate Mason Shaw said.

The Wild jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period when Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov set up Boldy’s power-play goal, but Hyman tied the score 1:25 later on a power play. Evason made the ill-advised decision to challenge goalie interference — he acknowledged after the game he should not have, but the Wild killed off the ensuing power play after being wrong on the challenge.

In the second period, Dumba thought he scored the go-ahead goal on a power play, but the Oilers challenged and replays indeed showed Gaudreau preceded Dumba into the zone and was thus offside 11 seconds earlier.

But how about this for a response?

Two minutes later, Gaudreau himself made amends with the go-ahead tally.

“I wasn’t too proud of myself there,” Gaudreau said of being offside. “But that was good. Great play by Bolds. He’s just so strong, so smart.”

It was a stellar way to open a four-game homestand with their second win over the Oilers in their third and final meeting of the season in 12 days. Fleury made 20 saves for his 10th victory and the 530th of his career. That puts him 21 away from Patrick Roy for second all time.

He’s glad he won’t be seeing McDavid and Draisaitl again anytime soon and was appreciative of the teammates in front of him.

“All the guys battled and blocked some shots and were aggressive on them,” Fleury said. “It was a fun battle and fun to win the game.”

First-line center Ryan Hartman, sidelined since Oct. 30, skated with the Wild for the first time since Monday’s pregame skate. He’ll skate again at Wednesday’s morning skate, and the plan is for him to practice fully for the first time Thursday. With only three practices and five games before the holiday break, it’s uncertain whether he’ll return before Christmas.

“To pinpoint exactly when he’s going to play, we’re not going to do that,” Evason said. “We’re going to see how he progresses here through regular skates with the group. … A situation like this, where a guy’s coming off a significant injury, we feel you need more time to bump and get some physicality and practice as much as you can.”

Winger Brandon Duhaime, who has missed the past nine games, was hoping to get medically cleared Monday, skate with the team Wednesday and practice fully Thursday. If the Wild are healthy when Hartman and Duhaime are ready to return, Walker almost surely will have to be reassigned. This also means Marco Rossi might have to be patient while playing in Iowa.

Travis Green, the Wild’s assistant athletic trainer and massage therapist for 16 years, was struck in the eye by a deflected puck Friday in Edmonton while working the Wild bench. Green remained in Edmonton after the game in a local hospital, missed Saturday’s game in Vancouver and was given a ride back to Minnesota on the Oilers’ charter Sunday.

Green’s eye is swollen. He’s wearing an eye patch and will have to see team doctors daily for an indefinite period. The team believes he’ll recover and be back to work in short order.

(Photo of Marcus Foligno and Connor McDavid: Matt Krohn / USA Today)