Edmonton, AB (Sports Network) - Andrew Cogliano scored twice, as Edmonton struck three times over the first 5:02 of the game, on the way to a 5-3 win over the Minnesota Wild in the opener of a big home-and-home series.

Curtis Glencross, Dustin Penner and Kyle Brodziak also scored for the Oilers, who jumped over Nashville into ninth place in the Western Conference, but are three points behind Colorado and Vancouver, who are tied for the final two playoff spots.

Dwayne Roloson made 31 stops for Edmonton, which has won four of its last five games and seven of nine.

"I think we did a good job shutting them down, focus on playing defensive hockey," Cogliano said. "We were getting chances all game, so the chances were going to come."

Sean Hill, Todd Fedoruk and Nick Schultz had the goals for Minnesota, which despite the loss remained a point ahead of Calgary for first place in the Northwest Division. That's because the Flames lost at Colorado, 2-0, on Monday.

The Wild and Oilers play again Wednesday and both teams have five games remaining in the regular season. Only six points separates top to bottom the five teams in the Northwest Division.

Niklas Backstrom allowed three goals on only 10 shots, while Josh Harding made 21 saves for the Wild, losers of two in a row overall and in five of six on the road.

The Oilers scored three times in a 3:03 span in the opening period. Glencross rebounded Brodziak's shot past a sprawled Backstrom 1:59 into the game.

Edmonton struck twice in an 18-second span a short time later. Robert Nilsson passed the puck from the top of the right circle to Cogliano, who deposited the disc from below the left circle by Backstrom. It became 3-0 when Penner skated through the left circle before veering in front, all while being hounded by Minnesota defenseman Brent Burns, before getting the puck into the net.

"It didn't look good eh?," commented Wild coach Jacques Lemaire. "It didn't look good from behind the bench either. We were not ready to play, period."

Backstrom was then replaced by Harding, and the Wild finally scored 39 seconds after Penner's tally on Schultz's second marker of the season.

Brodziak made it 4-1 3:54 into the second, but only 74 seconds later Hill snapped a one-timer from above the right circle by Roloson.

Cogliano's 18th goal of the season, at 8:59 of the second, made it 5-2. Sam Gagner passed the puck from below the left circle in front to Cogliano for a tap-in.

Fedoruk's goal off a redirection of a Martin Skoula blast above the left circle had Minnesota within 5-3 at 7:30 of the third. However, Roloson turned aside 12 shots in the final period.