Oilers vs. Wild: Evan Bouchard Wins It in Overtime as Connor McDavid Becomes the Fastest Ever to 20 Assists

The Minnesota Wild spent the third period clawing back from two goals down. Then, in overtime, they got caught with too many men on the ice, and giving this Edmonton power play a 4-on-3 is basically leaving the cheat codes out on the coffee table.

Connor McDavid slid the puck to Evan Bouchard at the top of the left circle, and Bouchard sent a shot high to the short side past Jesper Wallstedt at 3:32 of overtime, lifting the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 win on Tuesday night at Rogers Place. It was Edmonton's third power-play goal of the night, McDavid's third assist, and the end of a game the Wild had tied 3-3 with less than seven minutes left in regulation.

A 5-on-3 and a Two-Goal Cushion

Minnesota scored first, and fittingly early. At 3:32 of the first, Kirill Kaprizov fed Joel Eriksson Ek from behind the net, Eriksson Ek's first jab hit Devon Levi's left pad, and he kicked the rebound back to his own stick and wrapped it around the other pad. Matt Boldy had the second assist. Later in the period, a video review confirmed that a separate Eriksson Ek scramble in a crowded crease had not crossed the line.

Then the Wild opened the door. David Spacek was called for interference at 18:37, Boldy for hooking McDavid at 19:33, and with a two-man advantage and three seconds left in the period, McDavid threw a no-look pass across to Leon Draisaitl at the right dot. One-timer, glove side, 1-1.

The Oilers were still on the power play when the second period started, and they needed barely a minute of it. McDavid fed Draisaitl from behind the net, and Draisaitl beat Wallstedt to the far side, past the blocker, for a 2-1 lead.

"Just mentally it's nice to go in tied 1-1," Draisaitl said of the first goal. "But it was kind of a weird game 5-on-5."

At 6:01, shortly after another Edmonton power play expired, Mathieu Joseph knocked in the rebound of an Alex Formenton slap shot from the slot for a 3-1 lead. That looked like plenty.

The Wild Come Roaring Back

It was not plenty. At 10:30 of the third, Boldy found Kaprizov in the slot on the rush and Kaprizov went high glove side on Levi for his 11th goal of the season, which leads the NHL. At 13:07, Bobby Brink sent a backhand pass out from behind the net and Ryan Hartman ripped it past Levi's glove from the slot, with Quinn Hughes picking up the second assist. Just like that, 3-3.

"I think we played a really good first period then got on the PK," Kaprizov said. "The second was not the way we want to play, but the third was great and I feel we pushed them back and played in the offensive zone the whole period."

Then came the bench minor, and Bouchard.

McDavid Keeps Rewriting the Book

McDavid finished with three assists in 25:31 and has 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) during a season-opening point streak that is now nine games long. His points total leads the NHL. According to NHL.com, he is the fastest player in league history to reach 20 assists, needing nine games and beating the 10-game marks of Pat LaFontaine (1992-93), Mario Lemieux (1988-89) and Wayne Gretzky (1986-87). It was also his 66th career three-assist game, moving him past Ron Francis into sixth on the all-time list behind Gretzky (224), Lemieux (108), Paul Coffey (82), Adam Oates (71) and Sidney Crosby (67).

Draisaitl's two power-play goals pushed him to eight on the season. Bouchard had a goal and an assist in 28:17 and kept his explanation of the winner refreshingly simple. "You take what they give you. At that point in time, it was that shot," he said.

Levi stopped 27 of 30 shots and is 5-1-0 since Edmonton acquired him from Buffalo on July 1, per NHL.com. "I was just trying to stay focused on the next puck, not really playing the scoreboard," he said.

For Minnesota, Kaprizov had a goal and an assist and extended his point streak to seven games (eight goals, six assists). NHL.com noted his 11 goals match the most by an active player through the first 10 games of a season, alongside McDavid (2022-23), David Pastrnak (2019-20) and Nikita Kucherov (2017-18). Hughes logged a massive 31:18, Boldy had two assists, and Wallstedt made 28 saves on 32 shots.

Turning Point: One Skater Too Many

Minnesota had done the hard part. It erased a two-goal deficit on the road and banked a point. All it needed was to survive overtime with five skaters, and it could not do that.

"Tough at the end with the too-many-men," Hartman said. "We almost finished that kill but that's a pretty good power play."

Wallstedt was even harder on his team, and on himself. "I have to make more saves," he said. "It felt like it was self-inflicted wounds today that made us lose the game."

Stats That Matter

• 3-for-5: Edmonton's power play. Minnesota went 0-for-3.
• 3:32: The time of the first goal of the game, and the last. Minnesota got the first, Edmonton the final word.
• 26: McDavid's points during his nine-game season-opening streak.
• 31:18: Hughes' ice time for Minnesota, a monster workload in a losing effort.
• 37-30: Minnesota's edge in faceoffs, a 55.2 percent clip.

What It Means

Edmonton improves to 7-1-1 with 15 points, has won two straight and has won seven of its past eight. Bouchard summed up the night honestly. "There are definitely some things to clean up, but in the end, we battled and got the win we needed," he said. Edmonton coach Mike Babcock said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (lower body) will make his season debut Thursday, when the Carolina Hurricanes visit.

Minnesota falls to 6-2-2 with 14 points. The Wild had won two straight and four of five coming in, and they are 2-2-2 on the road. The trip continues Thursday in Calgary.

Same Time, Different Story

There is a Christopher Nolan quality to this one: a game that opened and closed at the exact same timestamp, with an entire plot twist sandwiched in the middle. Minnesota owned 3:32 of the first period. Edmonton owned 3:32 of overtime.

The difference was the margin for error. Against a power play this lethal, the Wild had none, and McDavid made sure the record book got another update on the way out.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com; postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.