Minnesota looks for it’s 3rd straight road win tonight when they face off against the Oilers in Edmonton. The Wild are coming off of a very important win in Calgary last night, 4-3, and continue their push for the playoffs. The Wild are 2-0-0 in their season series with the Oilers this year and play them one more time, in Minnesota, after tonight. On the road, the Wild are 7-3-0 in their last 10 road games. The Wild are looking to sweep back-to-back road games on consecutive days in Alberta for only 2nd time in team history.

Edmonton is currently a team in despair. After winning 5 games in a row, the Oilers are winless (0-5-0) in their last 5 games.

For those keeping track of who won the Nick Schultz for Tom Gilbert trade, both players are currently minus 12 on the season. Nick Schultz has 7 points (1 goal/6 assists), while Tom Gilbert has 10 points (3 goals/7 assists).

Meanwhile, Justin Schultz, while a minus 14 on the year, has 20 points (6 goals/14 assists). That’s the Schultz to keep your eye on. Too bad the Wild just missed out on signing this former Anaheim Ducks draft pick, turned college free agent. I wonder if he regerts not signing with the Ducks right now or the Wild for that matter?

In reviewing the stats comparison of both teams, it appears that the Wild are better than Oilers this season when tied after 1st period and when tied after 2nd period. However, scoring first still counts. The Wild have scored 1st in their last 2 games and are 15-4-1 when scoring first this season. However, the stat of the day is that the Wild are currently a perfect 13 for 13 on the penalty kill in the last 6 games. Previously, the record for the Wild is going 7 games without allowing a power play goal.

After last night’s win against the Flames, Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom is, once again, tied for 1st in the NHL with 21 wins this season. In the last 5 games, he has a 1.59 GAA and a .933 SV%.

Mikko Koivu 1 goal shy of tying Andrew Brunette for Wild’s all-time goal scoring list. Currently, he has 118 career goals.

Zach Parise has 12 points (4 goals/8 assists) in his last 15 games and 19 points (7 goals/12 assists) in his last 20 games. He leads the Wild in scoring with 15 goals and is tied for the team lead with 34 points (Koivu also has 34 points for the Wild). The Wild is 7-2-2 when Parise scores a goal. In March, Koivu and Parise combined to post 35 points (13 goals/22 assists) with a +25 rating.

Ryan Suter has pulled his weight on the blue line for the Wild this season. This season, he has skated more than 30 minutes 7 times. He is attempting to become the first NHL defenseman to lead the league in time on ice, assists and points among defensemen in the NHL since Brian Leetch accomplished these tasks in 2000-01. Currently, Suter ranks first in the NHL is assists (27) and second in points among defensemen, league wide, with 31 points.

That said, an interesting debate seems to be brewing. Who is the Wild’s MVP this season? Backstrom? Koivu? Parise? Suter? Or, someone else, like Matt Cullen? My money is on Backstrom. Given the glaring weaknesses at defense, he has played better than expected and without his performances this season, the Wild may not even be in playoff contention. Thoughts?

Games to keep an eye on tonight? Vancouver at St. Louis and L.A. at San Jose. If the Canucks beat the Blues and the Kings beat the Sharks, the Wild would be tied with San Jose at 51 points (if the Wild beat Edmonton tonight) making their game against oneanother all the more interesting on Thursday night, especially after how the last game in San Jose ended with Vlasic injuring Heatley and ending his season. Fun times folks, fun times (but, only if you’re winning this time of year).

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