Minnesota Wild vs. Edmonton Oilers Pick & Prediction NOVEMBER 21st 2024
Preview and Prediction
The Minnesota Wild will attempt to maintain their supremacy on the road when they face off against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
The Wild kicked off their three-game journey with a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, elevating their record to 8-1-2 as the away team this season. With 18 points on the road, they currently hold the top spot in the NHL.
"We just thrive on playing away from home," remarked Minnesota defenseman Jonas Brodin. "Even when we have a bad game, we bounce back and perform well in the next one. We don't let it turn into a losing streak, which is a positive thing for us right now."
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Leading the charge for the Wild both at home and on the road is left wing Kirill Kaprizov, who netted two more goals against the Blues, extending his road point streak to 10 games (eight goals, 15 assists). This ties him with Joel Eriksson Ek and Eric Staal for the longest road point streak in team history.
Kaprizov is also on a six-game point streak overall (six goals, six assists) and currently leads the NHL with 12 multi-point games this season.
Wild coach John Hynes is looking for his team to improve their puck management in close games. So far this season, Minnesota has a record of 2-1-3 in one-goal games.
"It's been a point of emphasis for us to play a certain way in tight games," said Hynes. "We can't try to force things or take unnecessary risks. We need to work for our chances and play smart. We've had some games this season where we've done that well, and we've learned from the ones where we haven't."
Edmonton is coming off a 5-2 win on the road against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, avoiding a winless trip (1-1-1).
"It's always nice to get a win before heading home because Thursday's game is going to be a tough one," said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch in regards to the upcoming matchup against the Wild.
The Oilers will enter the game with a hot goaltender and an even hotter penalty kill.
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In their last five games, Edmonton has not allowed a single power-play goal, successfully killing off 12 straight penalties. Goalie Stuart Skinner has also been on a roll, going 4-1-1 in his last six starts and making 27 saves in the win against Ottawa.
"It always looks like you defended a lot better when your goalie makes huge saves," noted Knoblauch.
The Oilers recently acquired right wing Kasperi Kapanen off waivers from the Blues and the 28-year-old may get his first opportunity to play against the Wild.
Kapanen only managed to score one goal in 10 games with the Blues, but he did have a career-high 20 goals with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2018-19 season.
"We did our research and we believe he will fit in well with our team and be a good teammate. Sometimes, as players get older, they mature," said Oilers general manager Stan Bowman. "We'll see in the coming weeks, but in my conversation with him, he seemed very motivated to come here. He's excited and determined to make this a success."
The Oilers may be without left wing Zach Hyman, who did not play in the third period against Ottawa due to an undisclosed injury. Hyman scored a career-high 54 goals for Edmonton last season, but has only managed to score three goals in 20 games this season.
Minnesota Wild vs. Edmonton Oilers Recap DEC 9TH 2022
Ryan-Nugent Hopkins had a goal and two assists and Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each a goal and an assist to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Friday night.
Derek Ryan and Kailer Yamamoto also scored for the Oilers, who won for the sixth time in their past eight games.
Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello scored for the Wild, who dropped their second straight game.
McDavid scored for the seventh straight game. He has nine goals and 10 assists during an eight-game point streak, and he leads the NHL with 54 points.
Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov failed to score -- ending his team-record streak of consecutive games with a goal at seven -- but his second-period assist extended his franchise-record points streak to a 14 games.
The Wild, who outshot Edmonton 44-38, received 33 saves from Marc-Andre Fleury. Stuart Skinner turned aside 42 shots for the Oilers.
Trailing 2-1 entering the second period, the Wild tied the game on the power play. Kaprizov centered a pass to Zuccarello, who wristed a shot past Skinner at the 6:22 mark, with Jared Spurgeon also assisting.
Yamamoto deflected Nurse's shot past Fleury for his first goal of the season to give Edmonton a 3-2 lead with 7:06 left the second period. Cody Ceci also assisted.
Draisaitl's power-play goal off assists from Nugent-Hopkins and McDavid made it 4-2 at the 3:43 mark of the third period.
Nugent-Hopkins scored an empty-net goal with nine seconds left off assists from Draisaitl and Zach Hyman to provide the final margin.
The Oilers took an early 1-0 lead when Devin Shore centered a pass to Ryan, who smacked it past Fleury from just a few feet away at the 2:45 mark of the first period. Klim Kostin also assisted on the play.
Edmonton stuck on the power play a little more than six minutes later.
After getting the puck from Tyson Barrie, Nugent-Hopkins slid a cross-ice pass to McDavid, who roofed a one-timer into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead at 8:59.
Eriksson Ek made it 2-1 when he intercepted Nurse's pass from behind Edmonton's goal and wristed a forehand past Skinner from just a few feet away with 9:36 left in the first period.