Wild at Oilers
The Minnesota Wild attempt to strengthen their hold on third place in the Central Division when they visit the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. Minnesota maintained its three-point lead over Dallas for the spot Friday with its third straight victory, a 5-2 triumph at Vancouver.
Charlie Coyle and Matt Cullen each recorded a goal and an assist in the victory while Eric Staal snapped a 2-2 tie late in the second period to give him 37 goals this season and four tallies during his three-game streak. Edmonton is looking to conclude its five-game homestand with a three-game winning streak after dropping the first two contests. The Oilers edged Arizona in overtime on Monday before getting past the New York Islanders in a shootout three nights later, with captain Connor McDavid forging a tie late in the third period before scoring the decisive goal in the third round of the bonus format. The tying tally was the career-high 31st of the season for the 21-year-old McDavid, who is riding a six-game point streak during which he has collected four goals and six assists.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), CBC, Sportsnet (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE WILD (39-22-7): Staal leads the team with 68 points, which is three more than his total over 82 games last season - his first with the club. The 33-year-old also tops the Wild in tallies, scoring 18 over his last 20 contests, and is three away from the third 40-goal season of his career and first since 2008-09 while with Carolina. Zach Parise also has been wielding a hot stick as he enters Saturday with a three-game goal-scoring streak and a six-game point run during which he has recorded four tallies and two assists.
ABOUT THE OILERS (29-34-4): Ethan Bear had a memorable game Thursday, setting up McDavid's goal for his first point in his fourth NHL contest. The 20-year-old defenseman, who was a fifth-round pick in the 2015 draft, also finished with a plus-1 rating after being a combined minus-5 over his first three career games. Several Oilers are closing in on milestones as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins needs two points for 300 in his career, Leon Draisaitl is three shy of 200 and blue-liner Adam Larsson is four away from 100.
OVERTIME
1. Wild G Devan Dubnyk could be rested against Edmonton after registering his 199th career victory Friday.
2. Nugent-Hopkins has recorded a goal and an assist in three games since returning from a rib injury.
3. Minnesota RW Mikael Granlund is on a four-game assist streak but has gone five games without a tally, keeping him one shy of his second straight 20-goal season.