Ryan Hartman shines in Minnesota Wild win over Oilers
By Jim Lynch
Ryan Hartman registered his second career hat trick during the Minnesota Wild’s 7-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.
Ryan Hartman shines in Minnesota Wild win over Oilers
Hartman and the Minnesota Wild top line had themselves a night to remember. Ryan Hartman registered five points, Kirill Kaprizov put up three assists and Mats Zuccarello added a goal an assist as well.
The Oilers and Wild faced off in a high scoring affair on Tuesday. There were four goals in the first period – two by each team. Then in the second the Oilers looked to be running away with the game with the lone goal within the first minute of the second, but the Wild put up five goals in the third to run away with the game.
This was a big game for the Wild. They had dropped the last two games against the Kings and Blue Jackets and needed to put together a statement win against a tough opponent in Edmonton.
The Wild are going to need their top line to have more nights like this as we get deeper into the season. Minnesota is definitely a team that can win the close 1-0 games, but they also can be an offensive juggernaut when teams like Edmonton look to play that way.
Heading into their next game on Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota has to be better defensively. In their past three games, the Wild have given up a combined 16 goals, that is not a recipe for success no matter how good your team is playing.
The Wild currently sit in third place in the Central Division. Obviously it is still very early, but it is worth mentioning that both the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche have not lost a game in regulation yet. The road to the Stanley Cup Final might require the Wild to get through both Dallas and Colorado.