EDMONTON — You know things are flipped when the two-time defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers consider a home matchup with the Minnesota Wild a measuring stick game of sorts.

But with Edmonton off to an underwhelming start, it did feel like the red-hot Minnesota club would be a litmus test.

“Minnesota is one of the best teams in the league right now,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Especially the way they’ve been playing.”

And the Wild’s roll continued with a 1-0 win over the Oilers at Rogers Place. After wrapping up a November to remember 11-1-2, Minnesota opened a four-game trip to start December with a strong win. Goalie Jesper Wallstedt — named the NHL’s rookie of the month — was terrific as usual, making 33 saves for his NHL-leading fourth shutout of the season (all in his last six games). Wallstedt is 8-0-2.

“The way we defend, our structure in our D-zone right now, the way guys sacrifice themselves — like I say, it’s a team effort,” Wallstedt said. “The way we’ve been playing right now in our own zone especially has been nothing else but spectacular.”

Jonas Brodin, who was tremendous defensively all night, especially on Connor McDavid, chipped in the only goal of the game, coming in the first period. There weren’t a lot of Grade-A chances at five-on-five, with the Wild doing a good job keeping the Oilers to the outside for the most part. Minnesota had just five high danger chances at even strength, the Oilers seven, according to Natural Stat Trick. And when the Wild slipped, Wallstedt was there. “When they do make mistakes, their goaltending has been phenomenal in this stretch,” Knoblauch said.

The Wild continued their strong stretch on the penalty kill by going 2-for-2, including the final 40 seconds being a six-on-four against two of the league’s top players on the ice.

“I think we’re pretty solid defensively tonight as well,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I thought, like I said, there’s going to be things that happen in the game, whether it’s a good player makes a play, or there’s a breakdown or someone falls down. There’s times in the game where you need key saves at key times. But I will say that I think our team is defending hard and our guys are making the routine saves that they need to make. I think both goaltenders feel comfortable with the commitment that the guys in front of them are playing with from a defensive standpoint, so I think the combination has been strong.”

Wallstedt’s heater continues

Wallstedt kept up his hot streak with another strong game. The key in his streak has been timely saves, and he was at it again. Early in the first period, McDavid charged into the slot and fed Zach Hyman at the back post. Jared Spurgeon got just enough of the pass to slow it up, but Wallstedt slid over and made the save. Wallstedt was at his best during the second period, when the Oilers really made a push, outshooting Minnesota 15-6 (and having two power plays). There was one particular sequence on a power play when Wallstedt tracked a Leon Draisaitl pass sliding under Brodin into the crease, and he pounced, making a pad save on Hyman.

“We know that was a play that can happen,” Wallstedt said. “I felt like I got out there pretty well. I kind of expected a shot. I was surprised he didn’t release that right away. And then I was trying to launch out and take away his time and space and try to make him make the first move. And somehow it ended up catching my pad.”

I mean that’s unbelievable https://t.co/E0Cxwj7WPV pic.twitter.com/zCpdlJlsPV

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) December 3, 2025

Brodin’s big game

It’s games like this where you really appreciate how good Brodin is. There are very few defenders who can skate with McDavid — at least, as well as you can — and Brodin made some great defensive plays on the world’s best player Tuesday. “It seems like he always plays so, so good here in Edmonton, against Edmonton,” said Brock Faber, Brodin’s D-pair partner. “He was phenomenal. It just felt like he got a stick on everything. Felt like he blocked everything. Didn’t make any mistakes. It was fun to be his D partner tonight. It was very, very easy for me.”

Brodin played a team-high 25:46 of total ice time and racked up four blocks.

“He was skating fast. He was a hard player to play against tonight,” Hynes said. “With his stick details, his ability to disrupt plays, obviously having a nice goal, and he had like four blocked shots, so he was on top of it tonight, and he was called upon to play some hard minutes, and he did a really good job.”

Brodin also chipped in with a rare goal in the first period. His blast from the point came right from a clean faceoff win by Nico Sturm and beat Stuart Skinner for a 1-0 lead with just under seven minutes left. It was just Brodin’s third goal of the season and first since Nov. 1 versus the Vancouver Canucks.

“I think you can tell how much experience he has, especially when you’re out there a lot against Leon or Connor,” Sturm said. “It’s tough to not get flat-footed. Sometimes, as a D-man, it’s not fun skating backwards. I imagine it’s pretty scary when those guys come at you 100 miles per hour. He always seems to be in the right spot, that’s the making of an experienced NHL defenseman.”

Said Brodin: “It’s a fun challenge, they’re really good players, both (Leon) Draisaitl and (McDavid). They’re tough to play against, but it’s also fun at the same time.”

BRODS WITH A ROCKET 🚀 pic.twitter.com/5AhoAbozm5

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 3, 2025

Odds and ends

• Danila Yurov missed the game with a minor injury first suffered last Wednesday in the Wild win at the Chicago Blackhawks; he’s with the team on the trip, and Hynes said the Russian rookie is merely day to day.

• Marco Rossi continued to work with skating coach Andy Ness back in Minnesota. Hynes said Rossi could join the team on this trip, depending on how he responds to those workouts.

• Liam Ohgren looks a lot more comfortable and confident during this call-up than he did at the start of the season. Hynes mentioned the other day there’s a little more “pop” in his game. And though Ohgren has yet to score a goal in this recent stretch, his fingerprints were all over Brodin’s goal Tuesday. He sparked the offensive zone faceoff by winning a battle along the wall and sending a shot through to Skinner. Then Ohgren made a nice moving screen to take away Skinner’s eyes.

• Joel Eriksson Ek was really good again in a shutdown role on his line with Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson. And he made some huge defensive plays late when the Wild were in a 6-on-4 penalty kill. Brodin and Faber played the last 2 minutes, 30 seconds. Eriksson Ek was out there the final 1:10, Sturm the last 1:46.

“You need to show up in times like that, and thankfully, we got the kill done,” Faber said. “I think our kill’s heading in the right direction, and those are moments you love as a D man, just being out there, having the opportunity to close the game and like I said, thankfully, we did.”