The Edmonton Oilers (10-8-2) will face a tough matchup at Rogers Place on Thursday night when the hockey club takes on the surging Minnesota Wild (12-3-3) led by forward Kirill Kaprizov, who is currently on pace to score nearly 150 points this season.
Kaprizov is riding a six-game point streak that has seen him put up 12 points since it began.
The Oilers are returning to Edmonton for a two-game homestand after completing a three-game road trip that ended with a 5-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
In their last 10 games, the Oilers have a 6-3-1 record and have scored an average of 3.3 goals per game in that span. The Wild have an even better record over their last 10 games, going 7-2-1. In that time frame they have averaged 3.2 goals per game.
So far this season, the Wild have given up an average of just 2.33 goals per game, tying them for the NHL lead in that statistical category.
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The Oilers have been without winger Viktor Arvidsson since Nov. 12 because of injury, and in Tuesday’s game fellow winger Zach Hyman did not play in the third period after taking a hit earlier in the game. It was not clear as of Thursday morning if either forward will play against the Wild.
If Arvidsson and Hyman do not play, it is possible newly acquired forward Kasperi Kapanen could make his debut with Edmonton. On Tuesday, the Oilers announced the club had claimed the 28-year-old veteran off waivers from the St. Louis Blues.
The Oilers have also been without defenceman Darnell Nurse since Saturday’s overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He sustained an upper-body injury after taking a hit from Leafs forward Ryan Reaves.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch later said he believes Nurse would likely be out of the lineup for “five to 10 days.”
On Wednesday night, the Oilers announced the team had loaned defenceman Josh Brown back to the American Hockey League’s Bakersfield Condors.
–With files from The Associated Press
