Wild vs. Oilers Morning Skate Wrap Up

The Wild and Oilers will meet for the first time this season tonight at 8 p.m. CT. Minnesota comes into tonight’s game riding an 11-game point-streak (9-0-2) and NHL Rookie of the Month, Jesper Wallstedt, who finished November with a record of 6-0-0, a 1.14 GAA, a.967 SV% and three shutouts. The Wild will also look to keep leaning on the hot play of its two best players, Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy. Kaprizov has a point (7-2=9) in a season-long seven consecutive games and has scored a goal in his last six—Boldy, in 12 games played since Nov. 6, has collected 16 points (10-6=16) and a plus-10 rating, ranking T-4th in the NHL in goals and T-10th in points during that span. Minnesota will be without rookie center, Danila Yurov, who is listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury. Forwards Marcus Foligno (lower body), Marco Rossi (lower body) and Vinnie Hinostroza (lower body) are still recovering from their respective injuries and did not travel with the team to Edmonton.

Edmonton, who has earned a point in three of their last four games (2-1-1), is coming off a 4-0 shutout win over the Seattle Kraken. Led by Connor McDavid (11-25=36) and Leon Draisaitl (15-16=31), the Oilers are looking to bounce back at home after suffering an 8-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on Nov. 25 - Edmonton is 5-2-2 at home this season. Stuart Skinner will start his third consecutive game tonight for the Oilers, for the season he is 9-7-3 with a 3.00 GAA, a .885 SV% and two shutouts. He was pulled after allowing four goals on eight shots against Dallas on Nov. 25 and bounced back with a 26 save shutout in the aforementioned meeting against the Kraken on Saturday night. The Oilers will be without defenseman Jake Walman for a fourth consecutive game, and are still missing forwards Jack Roslovic, Kasperi Kapanen and Noah Philp.

The Wild owns a 11-4-0 record in the last 15 meetings against the Oilers, outscoring them 62-47. Edmonton, however, has won the last two meetings between the two teams.