How times have changed

ST. PAUL, MN — There was a time when this was just another nothing game inside the Northwest Division.

Two non-playoff teams banging heads on a lazy Black Friday afternoon in Minnesota.

But the Minnesota Wild and Edmonton Oilers, at least for now, are not those teams anymore. On Friday, it was the National Hockey League’s best team hosting one of the NHL’s best young stories. And when it was done, the NHL’s longest streak of futility had been exorcized, as the Oilers won 5-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, their first win here since Jan. 16, 2007.

How relieved are the Oilers to shovel some dirt over this embarrassing skid?

"I feel relieved I don’t have to answer questions from you guys," said Minneapolis-born defenceman Tom Gilbert, the media’s go-to guy on this story. Since he joined the NHL back in 2006, his family has never celebrated a win here with Gilbert, though they’ve sat through many an Oilers-Wild tilt in these seats.

Edmonton had lost 17 straight games here, the longest active run of losses in one particular building since the Philadelphia Flyers owned the Pittsburgh for 23 straight in the ‘80s.

In a 2-1 shootout loss here in October, Dany Heatley scored for the Wild with one second left in regulation to help extend the streak.

With a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins empty-netter however, the streak ended Friday. It no longer nags the Oilers, as a link to a pretty ugly recent past.

"It gets repetitive, right?" Gilbert said. "You don’t want to think about it, but it was a terrible streak for us. It was too long, and bound to change. The outcome was awesome for us."

How good does this one feel for the Oilers? Not only did they beat the jinx at Xcel, they walked into the home of the NHL’s best team and won.

As a hot start morphs into a better-than-expected first half of the season, Edmonton — like the Toronto Maple Leafs and Wild — just might be ahead of schedule here.

"It’s a different feeling here this year," admitted captain Shawn Horcoff, who had a goal, an assist and 21:19 of very high quality minutes. "We know we have the horses to come back from any situation. We know that when we do right, we can play with any team in the league."

Ryan Smyth scored again, his 12th, and added an assist. Taylor Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle each had two-point nights as well. Edmonton blew a 2-0 lead on the road against the best third-period team in the league this season, and stole it right back with three unanswered goals.

"Our team is definitely better than it’s been in years before," Gilbert said. "Guys are buying in, guys are in the right spot, guys are sacrificing their bodies. Whether it’s a skill guy or a checking guy…the game is totally different."

Something else was different too, from a formerly passive Oilers team that hasn’t instigated much over the past few seasons. That was Darcy Hordichuk, the ex-Vancouver Canuck (among other teams), who drove Minnesota enforcer Brad Staubitz Wild on Friday.

Hordichuk goaded back to back double minors out of Staubitz in the opening period, only one of which the Oilers capitalized on. Hordichuk wouldn’t fight Staubitz once the referee’s hand was in the air, but said afterwards that Staubitz wouldn’t oblige him when asked at the beginning of a shift.

"One thing I’ve learned in my career is, you never fight when you’re tired (at the end of a shift)," Hordichuk said. "He had his chance in the middle of the ice, when we were both fresh. I think he was a little bit frustrated that he might have to square off in his own building, and get embarrassed."

Embarrassed. It is a word these Oilers knew well the last couple of years, finishing 30th for two straight seasons.

That word, like a lot of other negative, losing terms it seems, is slowly falling out of this team’s lexicon.

Mark Spector is the senior columnist on sportsnet.ca