ST. PAUL, Minn. – Ethan Moreau scored with 50 seconds remaining and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 Wednesday night, spoiling Marian Gaborik’s return to the lineup.

Raffi Torres and Jarett Stoll each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, who have won four of five. Mike Morrison stopped 22 shots to improve to 3-0-0.

Gaborik had a goal and an assist, and Pascal Dupuis scored his first two goals of the season and added an assist for the Wild, who have lost four of five. Dwayne Roloson made 24 saves.

With the clock ticking down, Moreau corralled a loose puck and quickly shot from between the circles. The puck slid under Roloson, who dropped to 3-7-1. Marty Reasoner and Chris Pronger had assists on the play.

Gaborik was activated from injured reserve earlier in the day and played just his fourth game of the season. He had been out since hurting his left hip flexor Oct. 23 against Chicago.

The 23-year-old star right wing missed much of training camp and the start of the season because of a right groin injury. He returned Oct. 19 against San Jose before injuring his hip.

Gaborik has been eager to return, with the season already a quarter finished.

Dupuis tied the score at 3 at 5:17 of the third period when he stole a pass at the Oilers’ blue line, passed to Randy Robitaille, then got the puck back and beat Morrison.

The Oilers took a 3-2 lead on Stoll’s eighth goal at 9:26 of the second period. Stoll’s wrist shot from the right circle deflected off Roloson’s glove and into the net.

The first period featured plenty of action. Ales Hemsky tied the score at 2 for Edmonton at 11:20 when Shawn Horcoff won a faceoff and knocked the puck back to Hemsky, who fired a shot from high in the right circle past Roloson.

The Wild grabbed a 2-1 lead when Dupuis scored at 9:30 with Minnesota on a 5-on-3 advantage following Horcoff’s penalty for tripping Gaborik. Dupuis took a beautiful pass from Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who faked a shot, and scored from in front of the right circle.

Gaborik brought the crowd to its feet 6:07 into the period when he scored his third goal of the season to even the game at 1. Gaborik snuck behind the defense and was wide open on the doorstep when he took a pass from Dupuis and easily scored on the power play.

The Oilers scored on the game’s first shot. Torres took a cross-ice pass from Stoll and slipped a shot from outside the left circle between Roloson’s legs.

Notes: The Wild put center Marc Chouinard on injured reserve to replace Gaborik. Chouinard has missed seven games because of a sprained right shoulder. … The game was the first of eight this season between the Northwest Division teams. The Oilers lead 14-2-4-2 all-time in the series.

AP-ES-11-23-05 2301EST

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