Oilers Gameday – Vs. Wild

The Oilers continue a three game home-stand tonight as they host the Minnesota Wild in the second of three meetings between the sides this season. This will be the final meeting at Rexall Place, and the teams will wrap up their series next week in Minnesota.

The Oilers will be without F’s Taylor Hall, Luke Gazdic and Anton Lander, along with D’s Nikita Nikitin and Jeff Petry. Goalie Viktor Fasth is also currently on the IR for Edmonton. The Wild will be without F’s Ryan Carter, Matt Cooke, and Jason Zucker, along with D Keith Ballard. All are currently on the IR for Minnesota.

Ben Scrivens, who was sensational on Wednesday, starts for Edmonton, while Devan Dubnyk gets the nod for the Wild.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers hosted Boston in a thriller on Wednesday night at Rexall Place. The sides played a pretty even first period, with Edmonton controlling the first half and Boston the second half. Edmonton got goals from Nail Yakupov and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to go up 2-0, but a Loui Eriksson goal in the last minute cut the lead in half.

The Oilers would regain their two goal lead nine minutes into the middle frame on the power-play with a Teddy Purcell goal, but the Bruins would turn up the heat and pepper Ben Scrivens the rest of the frame. Riley Smith would bang home a rebound at the 14:17 mark to get Boston within one, then David Pastrnak would tip a Zdeno Chara shot seconds later to tie the game.

Boston would fire nine shots on net in the final frame, but Ben Scrivens stopped them all to force OT. In OT, Scrivens would stop six more shots to send things to a shoot-out. Scrivens would stop all twelve Boston shooters, while Martin Marincin would score in the bottom of the twelfth to give Edmonton a 4-3 victory.

Minnesota: The Wild played in Calgary on Wednesday in a tight fought tilt between former rivals. Minnesota got two quick goals in the first twelve minutes thanks to Justin Fontaine and Matt Dumba, but struggled after that. Jiri Hudler would get the Flames within one late in the first.

The second period saw both goalies go perfect, as Jonas Hiller stopped seven shots and Devan Dubnyk denied fourteen shots, setting us up for an epic third period. In the third, the Flames would keep pushing, and finally tie the game 10:14 in as Lance Bouma beat Dubnyk with a quick shot. This forced a massive OT.

In overtime, the Wild went to work quickly, and set up an offensive zone chance. Mikko Koivu didn’t waste it, as he beat Hiller just 1:50 in to give the Wild a 3-2 road victory.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Wild last met in late January at Rexall Place in a pretty tight game. The Wild would control the first period, owning the shot-clock 10-5 and getting the game’s first goal off of a terrible turnover at the 9:09 mark thanks to a Nino Niederreiter shot.

The Oilers would play a much better second period, and tie the game at the 17:16 mark as Boyd Gordon banked a shot off of a Wild player and into the net, setting us up for a classic third period. Edmonton would dominate the third chance wise, but make one bad mistake that resulted in a Charlie Coyle goal at 15:37. Devan Dubnyk stopped 13 Oiler shots in the final twenty minutes to preserve the 2-1 win.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: Feed off of Wednesday night and build forward. Wednesday was a nice win against a good team, and can be a stepping stone for this club. If the Oilers can keep doing the little things right, playing the body, winning battles, then they will have a shot to get two more points tonight.

Minnesota: Smother the Oilers with physical play. The Wild have some big guys that can control the play with their bodies, and if they can do that tonight, the Oilers could be in trouble. The Wild are at their best when they are forcing the issue, and should snag two points tonight should they start throwing the body around.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: F Iiro Pakarinen has been doing all of the little things right lately, but hasn’t been rewarded with any tangible stats. Pakarinen is physical, moves well, and is always in front of the net for Edmonton. I’ll say he gets a garbage goal tonight, and impacts this hockey game.

Minnesota: F Zach Parise always owns Edmonton, it’s a proven fact. The elite sniper has been feeling it as of late, and is leading the Wild’s offense this season yet again. Guys like this usually pose trouble for Edmonton, and I doubt Parise will be much different. Keep an eye on this impact forward tonight.

Quick Hits:

F Nail Yakupov has a six game point streak going, one of his best stretches since joining the NHL in January of 2013. F Jordan Eberle has been leading the way offensively, posting 12 points in his last ten games. D Justin Schultz played just under 30 minutes on Wednesday against Boston. D Jeff Petry and F Anton Lander are questionable. Wild D Jared Spurgeon is a game-day scratch for the team. F Zach Parise leads the team with 42 points in 50 games, this is the third game of a road trip for the Wild.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Teddy Purcell – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Ryan Hamilton – Derek Roy – Nail Yakupov

Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon – Rob Klinkhammer

Matt Fraser – Benoit Pouliot – Iiro Pakarinen

Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz

Andrew Ference – Keith Aulie

Martin Marincin – Mark Fayne

Ben Scrivens

Minnesota Wild Lines:

Zach Parise – Mikko Koivu – Jason Pominville

Thomas Vanek – Mikael Granlund – Justin Fontaine

Nino Niederreiter – Charlie Coyle – Jordan Schroeder

Stephane Veilleux – Erik Haula – Kyle Brodziak

Ryan Suter – Jonas Brodin

Marco Scandella – Jared Spurgeon

Nate Prosser – Matt Dumba

Devan Dubnyk