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National Hockey League
Minnesota 2, Edmonton 1
When: 9:30 PM ET, Sunday, December 4, 2016
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta
Referees: Jean Hebert, T.J. Luxmore
Linesmen: Trent Knorr, Kiel Murchison
Attendance: 18347

EDMONTON, Alberta -- In three of their previous four road games, the Minnesota Wild lost in either overtime or a shootout.

They went to OT again Sunday at Rogers Place but came out with a 2-1 win this time, thanks to Mikko Koivu's overtime winner.

The veteran center scored the winner at 3:11 of the extra frame after he danced around goalie Jonas Gustavsson and converted a backhanded effort.

"It happens fast, you just want to react and do what you're comfortable with when you get closer to the net," Koivu said. "I just tried to react to the play, and it went in."

Gustavsson said, "I didn't think he had that much room to go into the middle, so I thought I would cut the angle off with the pokecheck, but he made a good move and was able to get around the stick there. Looking back at it, you think you shouldn't have pokechecked and stayed more patient, but you make a quick decision in the game, and sometimes they beat you."

Koivu didn't just score the winner, but also was otherworldly from the faceoff dot, winning 21 out of 23 draws.

"Mikko Koivu did so many things aside from scoring that winning goal," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "He was 21-2 on the faceoffs. I've never seen it that high, that kind of percentage for that kind of number you've taken. I'm sure someone has been 26-1 at some point, but not too many people have done that. He was out there every time there was an important faceoff. I thought he controlled the game when he was out there. He was a true leader out there."

But as good as Koviu was, the win might have been sweetest for Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk, who played 171 games as an Oiler. He made 28 saves, including a stop on NHL leading scorer Connor McDavid with two minutes left in regulation.

"It's not the player you want to see coming, for sure," Dubnyk said of McDavid. "I kind of prepared for the shot. He'd made some pretty crazy passes on some rushes that kind of just missed all game, and so I figured he was probably tired of that and was going to rip one at me. He can shoot the puck, so it was nice to get that save."

Dubnyk enjoyed being named the first star of the game, which meant he got to enjoy a quick postgame skate in front of the fans at Rogers Place.

"Yeah, it's fun," he said. "This was the (site of the) start of my career, and I have a lot of good memories here. I will always enjoy it if I can go out for a quick lap on a win. I'm not going to pass up that opportunity, but it's nothing sour by any means."

It didn't start off that well for Dubnyk. The Oilers' fourth line opened the scoring just 2:56 into the game. Patrick Maroon was positioned perfectly in front of the net to bang home the rebound from a Mark Fayne point shot.

The same line made more waves on its next shift, as Zack Kassian was sprung on a breakaway. His first effort went wide, but he found the puck behind the net, forcing Dubnyk to stop his wraparound attempt.

With just over six minutes left in the first, the Oilers' fourth line was out again when defenseman Kris Russell's shot hit the post, leading to a scramble that saw Dubnyk forced to make another close-range stop on Kassian.

Kassian then got into a fight with Wild right winger Kurtis Gabriel with 1:36 left in the first.

Despite carrying almost all of the momentum through the first, the Oilers surrendered the tying goal with 55 seconds left. Charlie Coyle scored, with an assist from Eric Staal. In the previous three games, the trio of Coyle, Staal and Zach Parise combined for just one point, and they were publicly called out by Boudreau in the lead-up to the game.

Edmonton then got a second-period scare. McDavid got a lot of attention from the Wild, and after a few blows to the head, the Oilers got the call from the league in Toronto -- McDavid would have to undergo a 15-minute concussion protocol.

McDavid was knocked to the ice by Wild defenseman Nate Prosser. McDavid went down, lost his helmet, and Prosser delivered another blow. Prosser was not penalized on the play.

Oilers assistant captain Milan Lucic confronted Prosser after the incident, but the Wild defenseman did not oblige the invitation to fight. Lucic was assessed a two-minute minor for slashing.

Later in the period, McDavid's head hit the ice after he was tripped by Wild defensemen Jared Spurgeon.

However, McDavid returned to action to start the third period. He was not amused.

"I was pretty shocked, to be honest," he said of the decision by NHL headquarters to pull him out of the game. "I hit my mouth on the ice. You reach up and grab your mouth when you get hit in the mouth, it's a pretty normal thing. Obviously the spotter thought he knew how I was feeling. He pulled me off."

While McDavid was out, Parise had a shot go off the post with about a minute left in the second.

Parise had another great chance with eight minutes left in the third. Gustavsson made a sprawling stop on a Tyler Graovac breakaway, but Parise's attempt to shovel home the rebound went just wide. Parise also had a breakaway chance in overtime right before Koivu's winner.

Gustavsson finished with 31 saves.

NOTES: The Oilers played on back-to-back days for only the second time this season. ... Edmonton G Jonas Gustavsson made just his third start of the season due to the lack of back-to-backs on the schedule. ... Oilers D Brandon Davidson, on injured reserve since the start of the season, is skating with the team and is expecting to travel on the upcoming road trip. ... The Wild scratched D Christian Folin, D Gustav Olofsson and RW Zack Mitchell. ... The Oilers scratched C Matt Hendricks, RW Jesse Puljujarvi and D Dillon Simpson.
Top Game Performances
 
Minnesota   Edmonton
Charlie Coyle 2 Points Patrick Maroon 1
Charlie Coyle 1 Goals Patrick Maroon 1
Charlie Coyle 1 Assists Mark Fayne 1
N/A Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Devan Dubnyk .966 Save Percentage Jonas Gustavsson .939
Devan Dubnyk 28 Saves Jonas Gustavsson 31
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Minnesota 33 2 0-2 3-3 13 37
Edmonton 29 1 0-3 2-2 11 24
Upcoming Games
  • Edmonton will play their next game on the road against Buffalo. The Oilers have a W/L % of .643 after a win and .385 after a loss.
  • Minnesota will play their next game on the road against Toronto. The Wild have a W/L % of .417 after a win and .583 after a loss.