Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Edmonton

The Essentials

The Opponent

The Edmonton Oilers are in the midst of a stretch of six games in nine days, coming off a 3-2 overtime victory against the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Place on Saturday night. The win over the Ducks vaulted the Oilers into second place in the Pacific Division, one point back from the San Jose Sharks. Connor McDavid leads the NHL in both assists (23) and total points (34).

Connections

• Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk was the 14th overall selection by the Oilers in the 2004 NHL Draft and was 61-76-21 in 171 career games with Edmonton between 2009-14.
• Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon is from Edmonton.
• Oilers forward Tyler Pitlick went to Centennial High School in Circle Pines and played one year at Minnesota State.
• Oilers forward Benoit Pouliot was selected fourth by the Wild in the 2005 NHL Draft and played in 65 games with Minnesota between 2006-09.

At home in Edmonton

The Wild will make its first visit to Rogers Place on Sunday night. Minnesota has won six straight games in Edmonton since Feb. 21, 2013, and it has an 11-1-0 record in its last 12 games in Edmonton, dating back to Oct. 21, 2010. Minnesota posted a 22-12-7 record, including three ties, at Rexall Place.

At the Rink

The Devan Dubnyk homecoming tour continues on Sunday night when the Minnesota Wild plays the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.
After making 29 saves and helping the Wild get a point in his hometown of Calgary on Friday, Dubnyk will backstop Minnesota against the Oilers, the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2004 NHL Draft.
Dubnyk has been a different goaltender since leaving Edmonton in 2014, when he was traded twice in the same season and finished the year in the American Hockey League.
Now in his second full season with Minnesota, Dubnyk is among the NHL leaders in both goals-against average and save percentage, and he leads the league with four shutouts.

"He sure has given our players faith. He's played as well as ... any goalie in the NHL this year so far," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "When he's out there, he got us a point in Calgary. It seems like every time he plays, he steals us a game or steals us a point at least. And he is calm, you don't see him panicking and that affects the whole team."
After a historic half season with the Wild after being acquired in January of 2015, Dubnyk was solid last season. But he has looked more like the goalie that was traded mid-season to Minnesota two years ago through the first two months of the 2016-17 season.
Dubnyk said he's playing confidently right now, an attitude that comes from the way defensemen and forwards are helping him do his job.
"The guys have been working really well in front of me, that's kind of allowed me to be real confident on the reads I need to make," Dubnyk said. "I'm just feeling good about what plays are open and when I can only worry about the shooter and one other guy or just the shooter a lot of the times.
"When you have that confidence in the way guys are playing in front of you, it allows everything to slow down and you can be real patient."
The Oilers are expected to go with a similar lineup to the one they iced last night in a win over the Ducks. The only change is in goal, where Jonas Gustavsson is expected to get the call.
Gustavsson is 3-1 with a 2.27 goals-against average and .918 save percentage in four starts against the Wild in his career.
Here are the projected lineups:
WILD
Zach Parise - Eric Staal - Charlie Coyle
Mikael Granlund - Mikko Koivu - Jason Zucker
Nino Niederreiter - Erik Haula - Jason Pominville
Kurtis Gabriel - Tyler Graovac - Chris Stewart
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Matt Dumba
Marco Scandella - Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper
OILERS
Milan Lucic - Connor McDavid - Leon Draisaitl
Benoit Pouliot - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
Anton Slepyshev - Drake Caggiula - Tyler Pitlick
Patrick Maroon - Mark Letestu - Zack Kassian
Kris Russell - Adam Larsson
Oscar Klefbom - Mark Fayne
Andrej Sekera - Matthew Benning
Jonas Gustavsson
Cam Talbot