PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Wild

The Edmonton Oilers look to tame the Minnesota Wild at Rogers Place in the first of a two-game homestand on Thursday night.

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PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Wild

EDMONTON, AB – Taming the Wild won't be an easy task.

The Edmonton Oilers are back on home ice Thursday to host the surging Minnesota Wild at Rogers Place, coming off a strong response in the Nation's Capital two days earlier that will give them confidence entering a notoriously difficult matchup for their franchise.

The Wild are riding a six-game point into Edmonton after defeating the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Tuesday to improve to 5-1-1 in its last seven games, allowing two goals or less for the sixth straight contest as a team that’s always been hard to break down defensively.

To back that up, Minnesota is allowing an average of 2.33 goals against per game this season, leading the entire NHL in that category.

Outside of the Winnipeg Jets (15-3-0) and Washington Capitals (13-4-1), no team in the NHL has enjoyed a better start than the Wild (12-3-3), and it’s in large part thanks to their own No. 97 lighting up the League for fun this season.

Kirill Kaprizov had two goals against the Blues on Tuesday to extend his point streak to six games and 12 points (6G, 6A), with the Russian currently on pace to reach 150 points this season after he became the Wild’s first player in 2023-24 to reach triple-digit points (108).

Kaprizov is the first player in Wild franchise history to record 30+ points in the team’s first 18 games of a season, sitting second in the NHL’s scoring race behind Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (34) with 31 points (11 goals) in the first 18 games.

Over eight meetings between the No. 97s of the NHL in Kaprizov and McDavid, both players have 10 points, but Kaprizov has claimed six victories with the Wild in those matches.

Kaprizov has factored in on an incredible 33-of-61 Wild goals this season for a league-high 54.1 percent involvement rate. To put that into perspective, it’s four percentage points above Leon Draisaitl (49.1 percent) and 7.5 points above McDavid (43.6 percent) – two Oilers forwards who had big nights in Edmonton’s confident win over Ottawa on Tuesday.

The Oilers have had similar success to the Wild in recent games, recording a point in five of their last six games (4-1-1) after beating Ottawa 5-2 to make up for their disappointing performance the previous night against Montreal in the first of back-to-back games.

"I thought it was a resilient effort. Not easy," McDavid said. "A lot of travel back to back and they were rested. I thought we were a little behind the eight ball, but we just found a way to get it done tonight. That's what it's all about and I thought it was a great sign from our group."

Edmonton is 37-62-4 all-time against the Wild and 20-29-3 on home ice, with their most recent win coming at Rogers Place in a 4-3 victory back on Dec. 8 that marked their only win over Minnesota during last season's series. The Oilers sandwiched that victory between a 7-4 loss in Minnesota on Oct. 24 and a 4-2 loss at home on Feb. 23

On Tuesday night, Evan Bouchard opened the scoring in the Nation’s Capital by notching a brilliant opening goal with a toe-drag through the legs of defenceman Thomas Chabot before roofing his effort over Linus Ullmark for the 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game. The goal was only Edmonton's 12th first-period goal this season, and seven of those have come in the first five minutes, which leads the NHL.

It’s easy to forget just how silky the Oilers blueliner’s mitts are when he’s known for the ‘Bouch Bomb,’ and his fifth goal that leads all Edmonton blueliners this season was a slick reminder of the talent he possesses.

“Beautiful goal," McDavid said of Bouchard's effort. "Bouch is a great player. He’s so patient with it and never in a rush. You could see both those things on that goal – a beautiful move and a beautiful finish."

After tying Steve Smith for the fifth-most goals among Oilers blueliners, the 28-year-old would add two more assists on Tuesday to register his 11th career game with at least three points – tied for fourth-most by a defenseman in franchise history.

"That's when he's at his best – when he's super patient," Stuart Skinner said. "Just being able to walk around him like he did was just super smooth, and then finishing on Ullmark, obviously a great goalie, so a lot of props to Bouch. He's been playing fantastic."

Along with Bouchard, Draisaitl also posted a goal and two assists vs. Ottawa, scoring his 14th goal to sit second in the NHL behind Alex Ovechkin (15), while McDavid pitched in three points of his own after scoring twice and adding a helper on the German’s second-period tally that came during a two-man advantage.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ended an 11-game run without a goal by scoring Edmonton’s fifth during the third period, and goaltender Stuart Skinner made 27 saves for his 78th career victory, passing Dwayne Roloson for the seventh most wins in franchise history.

Podkolzin finished Tuesday’s game on the top line with McDavid and Draisaitl when Zach Hyman didn’t come out for the final period after taking a hit before the intermission that shook the winger up, leading to his early exit from the game. The Russian recorded two assists in the victory over Ottawa and will be relied upon in a top-six role if Hyman cannot play on Thursday at Rogers Place against Minnesota.

"We have a lot of faith in him," Knoblauch said. "He's been doing all the little things and right from day one, when he showed up at Training Camp and put in the time – usually the first guy on the ice and the last guy off the ice – he's working on his game and it's been paying off. He's done a really good job for us. Despite not scoring a goal, he's done tremendous."

The Oilers will call on Kasperi Kapanen to make his club debut when they return to having 12 forwards and six defencemen in the lineup after he was claimed off waivers from the Blues on Wednesday.

Defenceman Darnell Nurse suffered an upper-body injury in his side’s overtime defeat to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, leading to him missing “five to 10 days,” as per Head Coach Kris Knoblauch. Nurse’s recovery timeline would put him back on the ice at the earliest by Thursday, but it remains to be seen if he'll suit up.

The Oilers loaned defenceman Josh Brown back to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors on Wednesday night.