EDMONTON, Dec 9: Evan Bouchard had two goals and an assist and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 on Friday night for their sixth straight win.
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had four assists as for the Oilers, who have won nine of 12. Stuart Skinner had 17 saves.
With the Oilers on a power play, Bouchard got his second of the night at 1:32 of the third period as he got a centering pass from Draisaitl and fired a one-timer through traffic past Fleury for a 4-3 lead. It was his seventh goal of the season.
“There’s plenty of guys that can place a shot in the right position but not many can hammer it like that,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “There’s very few that can do both.” After facing Bouchard in practice, Skinner has seen what Bouchard can do with the puck.
“The Bouch bomb, he does have a bomb. It is pretty incredible how hard he can shoot it,” the goalie said. “I think he has got potentially the hardest shot in the NHL.”
Bouchard now has 27 points in 24 games this season.
Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist, and Joel Eriksson Ek and Connor Dewar also scored as the Wild lost their second straight following a four-game win streak. Marcus Johansson and Brock Faber each had two assists, and Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 36 saves.“I didn’t have any problem with the effort,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I thought we were up against it coming into the game, and that’s what the schedule is. … But I really liked the compete and the battle that we had.”Minnesota had several good opportunities late with their goalie pulled but Hartman hit a post and Skinner made a couple of huge stops to preserve the win. (AP)
