PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Wild

The Edmonton Oilers host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday at Rogers Place in the opening game of a five-game homestand.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Ducks

EDMONTON, AB – Heed the call of the Wild.

The Edmonton Oilers will open a five-game homestand at Rogers Place on Tuesday with a visit from the Minnesota Wild as they look to extend their strong start to the season against a team that has long been a difficult matchup for the franchise.

The Oilers are 6-1-1 this season – good for the highest win percentage in the NHL at this early stage of the 2026-27 campaign – after earning a 6-2 win over the Utah Mammoth on Saturday to exact revenge for their home defeat in the first half of their home-and-away series on Thursday and continue their unbeaten run on the road.

But the Wild are right there as well, sitting on equal ground as one of the best teams in the Western Conference with a 6-2-1 record through nine games, which conversely to the Oilers has been built on an unbeaten start on home ice (4-0-0) as they embark on a five-game Western road trip that begins in Edmonton on Tuesday.

The Wild won all three meetings last season with the Oilers, including both in Edmonton with 7-3 and 1-0 victories that were spearheaded by Jesper Wallstedt between the pipes, whose six wins this season are tied for the most in the NHL.

The Oilers own a 39-56-14 record (.358 win percentage) all-time against the Wild and have struggled in recent seasons, losing 14 of their last 18 meetings with a -23 goal differential (75 GA, 52 GF). Minnesota's 32 road wins in Edmonton represent its highest total against any team.

With Filip Gustavsson on LTIR as he recovers from offseason hip surgery, former Oilers netminder Calvin Pickard has been backing up for the Wild and will return to Oil Country for the first time since signing with Minnesota this past summer.

Connor McDavid looks to carry on his torrid start to the season by extending his five-point lead in the NHL's early scoring race, registering 23 points (6G, 17A) through eight games. McDavid is off to the best eight-game start of his career, which would still be a career-high if it were nine games after recording 17 both in 2021-22 and 2019-20.

Defenceman Evan Bouchard sits on 16 points (6G, 10A), good for a tie for third place in the League, while Draisaitl sits in a four-way tie for sixth with 14 points (6G, 8A)

Not to be forgotten, Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov leads the NHL in goals with 10 and holds sole possession of fifth in NHL scoring with 10 goals and five assists. Kaprizov has two goals and 13 assists in 14 games against the Oilers.

Matt Boldy (5G, 2A) started slowly, but is fresh off a hat trick in a 5-4 win on Oct. 15 against the Blues, which was the Wild's second straight win after splitting a back-to-back against Vegas and Winnipeg.

For Oilers Head Coach Mike Babcock, that doesn't include some important depth pieces like Joel Eriksson Ek and the young Russian talent Danila Yurov, who's been a feature on his countryman Kaprizov's line this season and has four goals in nine games.

The Wild are coming off a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.

"He looks like a real player to me too, so they've got lots of players," Babcock said. "I thought they played real well yesterday."

McDavid has 13 career goals in 28 games against the Wild, while Draisaitl has 17 goals in 29 games. McDavid has registered at least a point in 10 of his last 11 games against Minnesota (6G, 11A), and Draisaitl has recorded at least a point in eight of their past nine meetings.

BY THE NUMBERS

• The Oilers are averaging 4.63 goals/game and have scored three goals or more in seven of their eight games this season.

• After allowing a combined 13 goals in their first two games of the season, the Oilers have allowed 11 goals total over their last six games.

• The Wild have scored a power-play goal in eight of their nine games so far and are 9-for-28 total on the season. Equally, they've been good on the penalty kill this season, having only allowed three power-play goals against.

• Both the Oilers & Wild are in the NHL's top five for goals scored during the first period. Edmonton is outscoring opponents 13-4 in the opening frame, while Minnesota is doing so 12-7 this season.

• The Oilers have scored first in 5 of their 8 games this season and have won all 5 of those games. Since the start of last season, the Oilers have scored first in 45 games and have a record of 35-5-5 in those games.

• The Oilers are 4-0-0 when they have a lead at the end of both the first and second periods this season. The Wild have six wins this season when leading after the second period, and the Oilers are right behind them with five