Evan Bouchard scores overtime winner on birthday as Oilers edge Wild

EDMONTON · Evan Bouchard scored a power-play goal in overtime on his 27th birthday to give the Edmonton Oilers a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday. Connor McDavid set up the winner for his third assist of the night, pushing his NHL-leading points total to 26. Leon Draisaitl scored twice for the Oilers, while Mathieu Joseph also connected and goaltender Devon Levi made 27 saves. Joel Eriksson Ek, Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman scored for Minnesota, with Jesper Wallstedt stopping 28 shots.

The Wild overcame a 3-1 deficit in the third period as Kaprizov and Hartman scored to force overtime. With Minnesota serving a too-many-men penalty, Bouchard scored his seventh of the season with 1:28 remaining in the extra frame. "It feels good just to get the win against a good hockey team," Bouchard said. McDavid extended his season-opening points streak to all nine games. The Oilers captain became just the sixth player in NHL history with 25 points before his 10th game of a season, joining Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky, Brent Sutter and Marcel Dionne. With 26 points, he is more than a quarter of the way to his 10th career 100-point season.

Kaprizov picked up an assist and his league-leading 11th goal, giving him 17 points on the season. That is the second-most through 10 games in Wild franchise history, behind only his own 21 from the 2024-25 season. The Oilers improved to 7-1-1 with the victory, winning two in a row and seven of their last eight. The Wild fell to 6-2-2, seeing a two-game winning streak halted. Special teams were a key factor, with Edmonton going 3-for-5 on the power play and a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. The Oilers continue their homestand against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. The Wild play the second game of a five-game road trip against the Calgary Flames on Thursday.

With files from The Canadian Press, The Globe and Mail and Yahoo Sports