Wild Game Day number 49 Wild Record (32-11-5 69 pts) Road Record (15-5-5)
Opponent: Edmonton Oilers (28-15-8 64 pts) Home Record (13-8-3)
Site: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta
Time: 8:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last season results: 10/27 Oilers 3 @ Wild 4 2/18 Wild 5 @ Oilers 2 3/10 Oilers 2 @ Wild 1
Last Result: 12/4 Wild 2 @ Oilers 1(OT) 12/9 Oilers 2 @ Wild 3(SO)
Here we go, the All-Star break is in the books and the second half of the NHL season is upon us beginning tonight in Edmonton. The Wild have taken the first two match-ups with the Oilers by one goal margins and both requiring over time. The Oilers and Wild are two of the bigger surprises of the 2016-17 season according to the hockey experts.
It should come as no surprise for both teams to be at or near the top of their respective divisions. Afterall, the Wild have been a playoff team for the last four seasons and the Oilers have been stockpiling young talent for the past decade, including the latest generational superstar, Connor McDavid.
I talk to, listen to, and read so much hockey from the who's who of the hockey world and almost to a man, they all say the same things about the Wild. They see them as the biggest surprise, they say that they saw them as a marginal playoff team at the beginning, but now are believers in what Bruce Boudreau has done with the team. They then say that the resurgence of Eric Staal is a huge factor after they and everyone else had written him off.
Then in the same breath they will say that Staal coming to the Wild is perfect because he can fit in with a lineup that is filled with other great players and he does not have to shoulder all the weight. So if the Wild have all these other great players as they say, then why is this such a huge surprise?
It just goes to show how the hockey community relies on past performance to signify future success. Well there is a lot of truth to that, but past performance also leads to teams learning from their failures and making the necessary adjustments, combined with a maturation process that creates a winning formula.
I am not here to anoint the Wild a contender, nor do I care if the prognosticators do either. The state of hockey deserves to have a competitive NHL franchise and they have that in the Wild. Owner Craig Leipold, is committed to building a winning organization to Minnesota.
So tonight we rev up the second half of the season in Edmonton as the Wild kick off a four game Canadian road trip. It should be a great test for Boudreau's team as they continue to grow and mature as a team.
Projected lines for tonight: 22-12-3 64-9-16 11-56-29 7-44-10
20-46 6-24 5-4
35 (? Could be Kuemper giving Dubnyk a rest following the All-Star festivities)
The Oilers went into the break at a scorching 7-0-1 clip and are playing their best hockey of the season. Tonight should be a can't miss for any hockey fan. Two of the Western Conference's best going head to head on some of the best ice in the league.
It's always Hockey Day in the State of Hockey!
Let's Play Hockey!
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