Preview: Oilers at Wild

OILERS (14-11-4) at WILD (13-8-4)
8 p.m. ET; FS-N, SNW, NHL.TV

Oilers team scope

The Edmonton Oilers conclude a three-game road trip at the Minnesota Wild on Friday. The Oilers are on a three-game losing streak (0-1-2) after a 6-5 defeat at the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. Edmonton is 5-8-3 in its past 16 games after a 9-3-1 start. Oilers captain Connor McDavid had a goal and assist in the loss at Philadelphia for his NHL-leading 12th multi-point game of the season, and leads the League in scoring with 38 points (12 goals, 26 assists). Forward Leon Draisaitl told the Oilers website that the Wild, who average an NHL-best 2.04 goals against, present a strong challenge. "They [Wild] are very good at defending and obviously teams have trouble scoring against them," said Draisaitl, who has 16 points (nine goals, seven assists) in the past 13 games. "We have to find a way to get to the net. It won't be pretty goals, that's for sure, it'll be greasy goals and we have to find a way to get a lot of traffic in front of [goaltender Devan] Dubnyk, and hopefully, we can get some on the board." Goaltender Cam Talbot will start after getting the night off in Philadelphia in favor of Jonas Gustavsson.

Wild team scope

The Wild begin a three-game homestand Friday after a five-game road trip (2-1-2), which ended with a 3-2 win at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. Center Eric Staal scored the winning goal against Toronto, and needs one point for 800 in his NHL career. "They always say the first game home after a long trip is the hardest," forward Jason Pominville told the Wild website. "We don't want to be brainwashed. We need to come out and skate." Minnesota is 7-3-0 at Xcel Energy Center this season. "It's exciting to play in front of your home crowd," coach Bruce Boudreau told the Wild website. "It's always good to get home." Defenseman Christian Folin, who has missed five games with a knee injury, took part in the morning skate Friday and will be a game-time decision. "He [Boudreau] asked me If I was ready and I said, 'Of course, I'm ready,' " Folin told the Wild website. "I'm excited to get back out there. The guys have been playing well. I'll wait to see what happens." Dubnyk will make his fourth consecutive start.

Oilers projected lineup

Milan Lucic - Connor McDavid - Drake Caggiula
Patrick Maroon - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
Benoit Pouliot - Leon Draisaitl - Tyler Pitlick
Matt Hendricks - Mark Letestu - Zack Kassian
Kris Russell - Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera - Matt Benning
Oscar Klefbom - Dillon Simpson
Cam Talbot
Jonas Gustavsson
Scratched:David Musil, Jesse Puljujarvi, Anton Slepyshev
Injured:Iiro Pakarinen (knee), Brandon Davidson (upper body), Darnell Nurse (lower body), Eric Gryba (undisclosed), Mark Fayne (lower body).

Wild projected lineup

Zach Parise - Eric Staal - Charlie Coyle
Jason Zucker - Mikko Koivu - Mikael Granlund
Nino Niederreiter - Erik Haula - Jason Pominville
Chris Stewart - Tyler Graovac - Kurtis Gabriel
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Mathew Dumba
Marco Scandella - Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched:Gustav Olofsson, Zack Mitchell, Christian Folin
Injured:Zac Dalpe (knee), Victor Bartley (arm)

Status report

Dalpe skated with the Wild on Friday for the first time since having knee surgery in early November … Minnesota assigned forward Teemu Pulkkinen to Iowa of the American Hockey League on Thursday … Pitlick is expected to get back into the lineup for Edmonton after being a healthy scratch against Philadelphia.

Who's hot

McDavid has 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in his past 11 games, with points in nine of them. … Koivu has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past eight games. … Coyle has a goal and two assists in his past two games.