Nugent-Hopkins scored just his second five-on-five point of the season away from Connor McDavid. It’s been an unusu

The Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid spoke out on his controversial hit on Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Johansson that went unpunished earlier this week.

Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch was quick to come to the defence of Connor McDavid following a match penalty on Saturday night.

The Edmonton Oilers overcame two deficits in Minnesota Wednesday to register a 5-3 win, behind the timely goaltending of Calvin Pickard. The Wild shot out to a deserved 2-0 lead as the Oilers got into penalty trouble.

Two teams that are among the league leaders in wins and points will clash at the Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday night.

The incident occurred after McDavid and Garland became entangled in the high slot for about 15 seconds. Frustration boiled over as McDavid wrestled free and delivered a "brutal cross-check," as described by one of the Sportsnet game announcers, that struck Garland in the head, sending him to the ice.

Third Period_7, Edmonton, Podkolzin 6 (J.Brown, Arvidsson), 1:28. 8, Edmonton, McDavid 19, 12:49. Penalties_None. Shots on Goal_Edmonton 14-11-11_36. Minnesota 12-10-12_34.

The Minnesota Wild have gone through some rough games these past weeks, and missing key pieces in their lineup hasn’t helped. It’s been the theme all season that despite those injuries, they keep working hard and can win even if they don’t have their normal lineup.

Vasily Podkolzin scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, Connor McDavid had two goals and an assist, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Minnesota Wild 5-3 for their seventh win in eight games.

Quinn Hughes scored two power-play goals and the struggling Vancouver Canucks beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2. Danton Heinen also scored and J.T. Miller had two assists as the Canucks won for just the second time in eight games (2-4-2).

The Dallas Stars are surging up the Western Conference, and should target Brock Nelson to help replace Tyler Seguin in the lineup.