Wild Game Day number 32 Wild Record (17-11-3 37 pts) Home Record (10-3-2)
Opponent: Edmonton Oilers (13-17-2 28 pts) Road Record (8-7-2)
Site: Xcel Energy Center, St.Paul, MN
Time: 1:00PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last Season Results: 12/4 Wild 2 @ Oilers 1(OT) 12/9 Oilers 2 @ Wild 3(SO) 1/31 Wild 5 @ Oilers 2
The Oilers come calling next for the Wild, off a tough loss in Nashville 4-0 on Thursday night. I say tough loss because they peppered Predator goalie Juuse Saros with 22 shots in the first period alone en route to an eventual 46-23 shot advantage, yet nothing on the scoreboard for their effort.
The Oilers loss in Nashville came on the heels of one of Edmonton's best performances of the season that saw them thrash the Blue jackets 7-2 in Columbus on Tuesday night.
Cam Talbot will return to the Oiler net today after missing the last 7 games with an upper body injury. Talbot is 10-10-1 with a 3.00 GAA to go along with a very pedestrian .903 save percentage. Things have not gone well so far for Talbot or the Oilers but they may now be heating up and getting their top goaltender back can only help the cause.
We all know about Connor McDavid and what he brings to the table with his speed and tremendous playmaking abilities. Leon Draisatl has not been able to get his game going on a consistent basis but remains a force to be reckoned with and it is only a matter of time before the big German gets it all going again.
Jesse Puljujarvi, the highly touted winger tabbed a can't miss behind Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine heading into the 2016 NHL draft. Puljujarvi played in just 28 games a rookie, and did not make the Oilers roster for opening night this season, but has come on a bit lately scoring 2 goals and adding 3 assists in the last 6 Oilers games.
Alex Stalock will once again be in net for the Wild, coming off his first shutout in a Wild sweater, a 28 save 2-0 win over Toronto, Thursday night. Stalock brings a different feel for this Wild team, as he likes to handle the puck thus making Wild opponents adjust their game plan. Dumping the puck in is not the best option with Stalock in net as he operates very much like a third defenseman in those situations.
The Wild have been prone to taking a lot of penalties of late 47 times shorthanded in the last 11 games and only 23 powerplays of their own. Edmonton, surprisingly, with all of their talented forwards, rank 17th in the league on the PP converting 18.4% of the time, while their penalty kill has been abominable killing just 72.1% of opponents man advantage opportunities, which ranks them dead last in that department.
If today's game does comedown to special teams the Wild have a distinct advantage in both areas where they rank 5th overall on the powerplay and 9th on the penalty kill, but are number 1 in the NHL on the PK at home this season.
The injury report is beginning to look a lot better these days as Zach Parise practiced with the team yesterday and Jared Spurgeon is very close to returning, possibly as early as this afternoon or tomorrow in Chicago.
The Wild in the midst of 3 games in four days would really like to get a win today before heading on the road for the next three beginning of course in Chicago tomorrow.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!