Wild at Oilers preview

WILD (28-24-7) at OILERS (32-21-7)
9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-WI, FS-N+, NHL.TV

The Oilers captain took part in the morning skate but will miss his sixth straight game with a quad injury. He is day to day and will join Edmonton on its three-game road trip, which begins at the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.
The Oilers, 3-1-1 without McDavid and 11-4-2 in their past 17 games, can regain first place in the Pacific Division with a win; Edmonton is one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights.
Goalie Mikko Koskinen will start; he made 33 saves in a 4-1 win at the Florida Panthers on Feb. 15.
The Wild, 8-4-1 in their past 13 games after going 1-5-1 in their previous seven games, are five points behind the Calgary Flames and Arizona Coyotes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Goalie Alex Stalock will start for the fourth time in five games; he made 19 saves in a 2-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 15.

Players to watch

Wild forward Kevin Fiala has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past eight games.
Oilers center Leon Draisaitl leads the NHL in scoring with 95 points (34 goals, 61 assists) in 60 games, including 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his past six games.

They said it

"Every game matters now for us, every point matters and that's how we have to go into every game, just focus on doing the right things for the whole 60 [minutes] and everyone doing their job. When we're doing that, we find success." -- Wild center Luke Kunin
"We've been playing really well lately and everyone has bought into the system. Right now we're a really hard team to play against and that's the main thing we have to stick to." -- Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen

Wild projected lineup

Zach Parise -- Eric Staal -- Kevin Fiala
Alex Galchenyuk -- Luke Kunin -- Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Jordan Greenway
Victor Rask -- Mikko Koivu -- Ryan Hartman
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Mathew Dumba
Carson Soucy -- Greg Pateryn
Alex Stalock
Devan Dubnyk
Scratched: Brad Hunt, Ryan Donato
Injured: None

Oilers projected lineup

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Leon Draisaitl -- Kailer Yamamoto
Sam Gagner -- Gaetan Haas -- Alex Chiasson
Tyler Benson -- Riley Sheahan -- Josh Archibald
Jujhar Khaira -- Colby Cave -- Patrick Russell
Darnell Nurse -- Ethan Bear
Caleb Jones -- Adam Larsson
William Lagesson -- Matt Benning
Mike Smith
Mikko Koskinen
Scratched:Evan Bouchard
Injured:Connor McDavid (quad), Joakim Nygard (hand), Kris Russell (concussion), James Neal (foot), Oscar Klefbom (shoulder)
Suspended: Zack Kassian

Status report

Rask will play after being a healthy scratch for the past eight games. … Pateryn will play after being a healthy scratch for the past two games.

Stat pack

Staal has 26 points (eight goals, 18 assists) in 23 games against Edmonton in his NHL career. … Nugent-Hopkins has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in his past six games.