An unpenalized hit by Evander Kane on Jonas Brodin set up the game-winning goal for the Edmonton Oilers as the Minnesota Wild dropped a 4-3 game at Rogers Place on Friday night.
The hit happened early in the third period when Brodin was chasing a puck deep in the Minnesota zone. Kane slammed Brodin into the end boards but was not called for boarding even as Brodin left the ice with an injury.
Wild forward Ryan Hartman went after Kane after seeing Brodin get hurt and was given a two-minute minor for roughing, which set up Evan Bouchard's power play goal at 1:32 of the third period that proved to be the game-winner for Edmonton.
"You never want to see anybody get hit like that," Wild head coach John Hynes said after the game via The Athletic's Michael Russo. "It's not my job to comment on the hit. That's the referee's job. It's an unfortunate situation and it was tough to lose [Brodin] at that point."
The apparent injury to Brodin and the penalty to Hartman that followed was just an example of a tough night for the Wild.
Bouchard opened the scoring with his sixth goal of the season from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman at 15:16 of the first period before Matt Boldy (from Brock Faber and Marcus Johansson at 0:15) and Joel Eriksson Ek (from Boldy and Johansson at 0:41) combined for two goals in 41 seconds to give the Wild the lead.
Minnesota's advantage didn't last long, however, as Connor McDavid scored a highlight-reel goal from Nugent-Hopkins and Bouchard at 1:21 of the second period to tie the game at 2-2.
Connor Dewar scored at 11:58 of the second period to put the Wild back on top but a penalty on Mats Zuccarello for holding Derek Ryan's stick set up Leon Draisaitl to tie the game with a power play goal from Nugent-Hopkins and McDavid at 18:30 of the second period before Bouchard's game-winner in the third period.
The loss is the second straight for Minnesota after the Wild won their first four games under John Hynes and leaves questions on the blue line. If Brodin's injury is serious, it will leave the Wild's defensive pairings shorthanded again after Jared Spurgeon missed the first month of the season with a lower-body injury.
Minnesota will wrap up its four-game Pacific road trip when it takes on Seattle at 8 p.m. on Sunday.
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