Bad start, no problem.
After a series of bad starts this season, the Wild upped the ante with two on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center, falling behind a skidding Edmonton team 1-0 in the first 54 seconds, and 3-2 just 32 seconds into the second period.
But it wasn’t the difference this time.
Ryan Hartman scored a hat trick, and Marco Rossi, Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek each added one goal as the Wild beat the Oilers, 7-4, to nip an 0-1-1 skid in the bud before starting a three-game road trip on Thursday in Philadelphia.
Minnesota scored five third-period goals to overcome an Oilers team that arrived in St. Paul with a 1-3-1 record and without superstar wing Connor McDavid, sidelined one to two weeks with an upper body injury.
McDavid led the NHL with 64 goals and 153 points last season, but the Oilers didn’t appear to miss him early.
Even as Minnesota focused on coming out strong after a series of slow starts — really in every game but a 5-2 victory at Montreal on Oct. 17 — Evan Bouchard scored on a slap shot 54 seconds into the first period, and Warren Foegele scored two go-ahead goals, the second giving the Oilers a 3-2 lead just 32 seconds into the second period.
But Minnesota tightened its defense, a focus for a team that has struggled defensively with veteran blue liner Jared Spurgeon sidelined by an upper body injury, and finally tied the game, 3-3, on Hartman’s second goal 33 seconds into the third period.
That started a flurry for the Wild, who took a 4-2 lead on Zuccarello’s one-timer from the right circle, and Eriksson Ek finished a long forecheck with a wrist shot from the crease to make it 5-3 at 9:32.
Evander Kane scored on a redirect to make it 5-4, but Hartman finished his hat trick on a rush to make it 6-4, and Marcus Foligno added an empty-net goal.
Hartman finished with five points.
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