EDMONTON, Alberta _ Usually, the puck would disappear under Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk's glove or it'd burrow somewhere in his pads.
But not this time.
A harmless-looking dump-in bounced off Dubnyk and pinballed around the crease until Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins deposited it behind Dubnyk.
The sequence didn't just capture how the Wild started to unravel Friday at Rogers Place, ultimately getting overwhelmed 7-2 by the Edmonton Oilers; it also symbolized how a three-game road trip that started out promising drained into a pool of disappointment.
Not only did the Wild finish the trek 1-2 to boast just four wins in its last 12 games, but the team wrapped the week's action without captain Mikko Koivu since he was sent back to the Twin Cities to get a lower-body injury evaluated.
That news was delivered a few hours before puck drop, plopping a cloud of uncertainty over the group since the team said it didn't have any specifics on the extent of Koivu's issue _ suffered in the 2-0 loss to the Flames Thursday when Calgary captain Mark Giordano kneed Koivu along the boards in the third period.
Without Koivu, the Wild shuffled its lines and the new look had a slow start that paved the way for the Oilers to capitalize.
Winger Leon Draisaitl buried a cross-ice feed from captain Connor McDavid past Dubnyk's blocker 4 minutes, 14 seconds into the first period.
Just 3:30 later, Nugent-Hopkins scored off that scramble in front after Dubnyk bobbled the initial throw on net.
And just 58 seconds after that, the Oilers rang up their third goal _ a mesmerizing play from McDavid, who peeled off the boards and faked a shot in the slot before wiring the puck top-shelf on Dubnyk.
That goal chased Dubnyk from the game, as he was replaced by backup Alex Stalock.
It was an unfortunate performance for Dubnyk, who was unable to build off his strong showing in the third period of the 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday. He surrendered three goals to the Oilers on only six shots.
Stalock posted 22 saves in relief.
The change in net seemed to galvanize the Wild somewhat since the fourth line started to chip away at the deficit when winger Marcus Foligno's shot trickled by Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot and over the goal line at 10:38.
Center Matt Hendricks, who returned to the lineup amid Koivu's absence, earned an assist for his first point with the Wild.
But it was a struggle for the Wild to sustain pressure in the Oilers' zone.
It had a few quality looks in the second; center Eric Staal led a 2-on-1 that included a backhand off the post. Staal also had a shot later in the period that was turned aside by Talbot's pad.
After winger Zack Kassian's long-range shot eluded Stalock 1:51 into the third, the Wild fell back into a three-goal hole until winger Nino Niederreiter's redirect off a Zach Parise centering attempt made it 4-2.
But the Wild couldn't parlay that momentum into more production.
Instead, the Oilers resumed control when McDavid set up Draisaitl again for a rising shot at 10:34 before winger Alex Chiasson unleashed a shot by Stalock's glove at 13:48.
Defenseman Darnell Nurse tacked on a seventh with 2:51 to go. Talbot posted 31 saves.
The Wild, which killed off the Oilers' lone power play, also blanked on two looks with the man advantage.
