The Oilers are 4-1-0 in their past five games and have won three straight at home. They are 5-2-1 under coach Ken Hitchcock, who was hired Nov. 20 to replace Todd McLellan.
Minnesota, which is 1-4-0 in its past five games, is playing the final game of a three-game Western Canada road trip. They lost 2-0 at the Calgary Flames on Thursday, and will be without forward Mikko Koivu, who sustained a knee injury during the third period Thursday.
Players to watch
Wild forward Mikael Granlund leads Minnesota with 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists) in 28 games. He has five points (one goal, four assists) In his past four games.
Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom has three goals in his past five games after not scoring in his first 23 games.
They said it
"Our management of the puck was nothing the way it's been in games, even if we've lost. That's a bone of contention that we'll have to fix or we won't be successful." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau after a 2-0 loss against the Calgary Flames on Thursday
"There are some big games on the line here and want to continue doing what we're doing. We can still play better hockey, I think, but to win some of those tight games when we're not playing 100 percent is big for us." -- Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom
Wild projected lineup
Jason Zucker -- Eric Staal -- Mikael Granlund
Zach Parise -- Charlie Coyle -- Nino Niederreiter
Jordan Greenway -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Marcus Foligno
Matt Hendricks -- Eric Fehr -- JT Brown
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Mathew Dumba
Nick Seeler - Greg Pateryn
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched:Nate Prosser
Injured:Mikko Koivu (knee)
Oilers projected lineup
Leon Draisaitl -- Connor McDavid -- Alex Chiasson
Jujhar Khaira -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Valentin Zykov -- Ryan Spooner -- Ty Rattie
Milan Lucic -- Kyle Brodziak -- Zack Kassian
Oscar Klefbom -- Adam Larsson
Darnell Nurse -- Kris Russell
Kevin Gravel -- Matt Benning
Cam Talbot
Mikko Koskinen
Scratched:Jason Garrison, Chris Wideman, Cooper Marody
Injured: Andrej Sekera (Achilles), Tobias Rieder (upper body), Drake Caggiula (hand)
Status report
Zykov will make his debut for Edmonton. He was claimed off waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 30 … Caggiula was placed on injured reserve Thursday after sustaining a hand injury during practice in St. Louis on Tuesday.
Stat pack
Parise will play his 900th NHL game. … Dumba has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his past 11 games … McDavid has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in his past 10 games.
