Preview: The Wild's four-game winning streak ended with Sunday's loss to St. Louis. The Wild leaves Friday for a three-game road trip. The Wild is 2-0 this season against the Oilers and is 21-3-1 against the Oilers at home since Feb. 25, 2007. The Oilers, who would have the second-best odds to win the draft lottery for the fifth time since 2010, have won four of their past six but are coming off a 3-0 home loss to San Jose.
Gameday preview: Edmonton at Wild
March 10, 2016 at 2:49AM
Players to watch: Wild D Ryan Suter is riding a six-game point streak and is one assist from his 38th, which would be a Wild single-season record for defensemen. C Mikko Koivu leads the Wild with 43 points in 55 games against Edmonton, his highest total against any team. Oilers G Cam Talbot, who has allowed 10 goals in his past seven starts, should play. He was named the NHL's First Star last week after going 3-0 with a 0.65 goals-against average and .981 save percentage. C Connor McDavid leads all rookies with 1.06 points per game. LW Taylor Hall leads with 22 goals. RW Jordan Eberle has no points in three consecutive games after a point in eight of nine. C Nail Yakupov has no points in 18 of his past 20 games.
Numbers: The Wild's 47 victories and 104 points against the Oilers are its most against any franchise. The Wild's 25 wins against the Oilers at Xcel Energy Center are its most against any franchise. … The Wild has at least one power-play goal in 16 of the past 21 games.
Injuries: Wild RW Jason Pominville (lower body), who has played 231 consecutive games, didn't practice Wednesday and is questionable. Oilers D Oscar Klefbom (broken finger), D Andrew Ference (hip), C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (broken hand), D Eric Gryba (knee), LW Benoit Pouliot (shoulder) and D Brandon Davidson (undisclosed) are out.
MICHAEL RUSSO
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For the Wild, four points behind the league-leading Jets, this will be their most anticipated matchup against a division rival since they lost 2-1 to the Stars on Nov. 16.
