Minnesota Wild (12-3-3) at Edmonton Oilers (10-8-2)
TV: Sportsnet West. Radio: 880 CHED.
TIME: 7 p.m. Thursday
Odds: Wild +128, Oilers -154
PLAYOFF PICTURE
A 5-2 win over the Ottawa Senators in their previous game put the Edmonton Oilers in a playoff position for the first time this season, as they continue to climb the standings following a slow start. The Oilers come into Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Wild in the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 22 points.
BACK TO 12-AND-6
The Oilers sent recent callup Josh Brown back down to their American Hockey League farm in Bakersfield after claiming forward Kasperi Kapanen off of waivers from the St. Louis Blues. That effectively ends their run of going with 11 forwards and seven defencemen, which they have been employing since an injury to forward Viktor Arvidsson had him listed as day-to-day for over a week now. Moving Brown puts the Oilers back under the salary cap, according to PuckPedia, which would allow them $1.4 million in cap space come trade deadline, pending further roster moves.
DYNAMIC DUO
After falling 4-3 in overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs to start a three-game road trip, and following up by getting shut out 3-0 against the lowly Montreal Canadiens, the Oilers put superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the same line to power their way to six points apiece in a convincing 5-2 win against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
DROPPIN’ GLOVES
In one of the wackier stats of the season, the Oilers are 6-0 in games where there’s a fight and 4-8-2 in games where there isn’t one. Last game, it was the recently recalled defenceman Josh Brown against towering Senators forward Zack MacEwen.
THE POLL
What is the most number of games the Oilers will win in a row this season?
- >16
- 13-15
- 10-12
- 7-9
- 4-6
THE LINEUPS
MINNESOTA
Forwards
Kaprizov – Eriksson Ek – Boldy
Johansson – Rossi – Hartman
Foligno – Gaudreau – Trenin
Lauko – Khusnutdinov – Jones
Defence
Middleton – Faber
Brodin – Spurgeon
Chisholm – Bogosian
Goalies
Gustavsson
Fleury
EDMONTON
Forwards
Podkolzin – McDavid – Draisaitl
Skinner – Nugent-Hopkins – Hyman
Janmark – Henrique – Brown
Kapanen – Ryan – Perry
Defence
Ekholm – Bouchard
Kulak – Emberson
Dermott – Stecher
Goalies
Skinner
Pickard
INJURIES
MINNESOTA: None
EDMONTON: Viktor Arvidsson (undisclosed), D Darnell Nurse (upper body)
E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge