With their penalty-kill numbers among the worst in the NHL, despite their stellar start, the Wild talked about the need to avoid the penalty box as a key to keeping pace with Edmonton’s explosive offense in advance of their Thursday night showdown.

It was a solid plan, which went awry almost immediately, as the Oilers scored a pair of man-advantage goals and another shorthanded, handing the Wild one of their worst losses of the season. Star forward Leon Draisaitl scored his NHL-best 21st goal and set up three others in the Oilers’ 7-1 romp, snapping a streak of seven straight Minnesota wins versus Edmonton.

A first period power-play goal by Freddie Gaudreau provided about the only opportunity for the crowd to welcome the Wild back to Minnesota for the opener of a lengthy homestand, after they had won two of three on their most recent road trip.

Filip Gustavsson had 22 saves for the Wild in the opening 40 minutes, falling to 14-5-3 as their goalie of record this season. Marc-Andre Fleury finished the game, stopping five shots in the third period.

The Wild’s defensive corps took a loss in the opening minutes of the game when Jake Middleton blocked an Edmonton shot and headed down the tunnel to the locker room. He did not return, and was officially ruled out with an upper body injury.

Then things got more challenging for the home club, as Matt Boldy was whistled for tripping and Edmonton’s power play needed just five seconds to take the lead, via a Zach Hyman tap-in set up by Draisaitl.

It also marked a point of some growing concern for the Wild, who surrendered a pair of power-play goals in their shootout win at Utah on Tuesday.

At the team’s Thursday morning skate, coach John Hynes said staying out of the penalty box would be their first priority versus Edmonton, only to see the visitors score early with a man advantage. The Wild took four minor penalties in the game, and forward Jakub Lauko served a five-minute major for fighting in the opening period.

Draisaitl set up a Kasperi Kapanen goal later in the first to double the visitors’ lead. But the Wild made their first power play count, controlling the play for nearly the full two minutes and getting on the board when Brock Faber rifled a shot through a crowd from the blue line. It was tipped in by Freddie Gaudreau, snapping a string of four straight games in which Minnesota had been held scoreless in the opening period.

The Wild got another power play early in the second, but this one was notably less effective, as Edmonton scored a shorthanded goal to re-establish a two-goal lead.

When Ryan Nugent-Hopkins popped a rebound past Gustavsson on a power play later in the period, it became clear that the visitors were in complete control — a fact underscored when Draisaitl chipped a puck in for a 5-1 lead after 40 minutes, prompting Hynes to change goalies during a game for the first time this season.

Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard finished with 27 saves as the Oilers won for the seventh time in their past eight games. His best effort might have been a point-blank pad save on Kirill Kaprizov early in the third as the Wild made one last desperate, and ultimately fruitless, push.

Instead, the Oilers added two more on tipped pucks in the final period to add an exclamation point to the blowout.

The loss, coupled with the point Winnipeg got from an overtime loss to Vegas on Thursday, moved the Jets ahead of Minnesota and into first place in the Western Conference.

Thursday’s game was the first of a five-game Wild homestand. They next host Philadelphia at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

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