It’s only the midway point of January, but the Minnesota Wild and Edmonton Oilers waged a back-and-forth battle featuring the pretty, the gritty and the downright nasty feel of the postseason.

Oilers star Connor McDavid had a pair of goals as Edmonton overcame first- and second-period deficits to win 5-3, taking the season series by beating Minnesota for the second time this season.

Several Wild players had words with the officials at the end of the second period, after McDavid clipped Wild forward Marcus Johansson in the face with an elbow late in the period. Johansson crumpled to the ice immediately and was helped off the rink by the team’s trainers.

The Wild got early goals from Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi, and a second period goal from Ryan Hartman.Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson had 31 saves, as the Wild have now lost three of their last four.

Edmonton burst from the gate, controlling the play and testing Gustavsson with a pair of shots in the opening two minutes. But an early penalty on Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse gave the Wild a chance to turn the tables and they did, with Boldy circling in front of the Edmonton net and beating their goalie with a high shot.

With his 17th goal of the season, Boldy moved to second on the team behind Kirill Kaprizov’s 23. But he got company on the stat sheet soon after, as Boldy’s cross-ice pass on the Wild’s third power play of the period set up Rossi’s back door goal, which was the Austrian’s 17th of the season, and gave Minnesota a two-goal lead.

However, Edmonton got on the board just 21 seconds later, and forged a tie before the period ended, with McDavid scoring on the Oilers’ first power play of the game.

The teams traded second period goals, with Hartman recording his seventh point of the past eight games when he scored off a faceoff early in the frame. Edmonton answered when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins deflected a shot by former Wisconsin Badgers standout Ty Emberson past Gustavsson for a 3-3 tie.

Adding insult to the Johansson injury, the Oilers took their first lead just 82 seconds into the third. A wide-angle pass from the far boards deflected off the skate of Wild defenseman Declan Chisholm and slipped over the goal line just as Nurse barreled into the Wild goalie, touching off a brief scrap in the crease. When all the dust cleared, Edmonton had a lead it would not relinquish. McDavid finished a late 2-on-1 rush to give the visitors a two-goal lead, as Minnesota fell to 11-10-1 at home.