Wild at Oilers
Devan Dubnyk has been a revelation since joining the Minnesota Wild in a trade with Arizona. On Friday night, he'll get a chance to show his other former team just how far he has come as he and the Wild visit the Edmonton Oilers. Dubnyk was cast aside by both the Oilers and Coyotes but has invigorated his career with the Wild, posting an 11-2-1 record with a 1.73 goals-against average while vaulting Minnesota back into the Western Conference playoff race.
While Dubnyk's emergence as one of the hottest netminders in the league is certainly a surprise, the Oilers are in the midst of their own unexpected surge. Edmonton has points in four of its last six games (3-2-1) and has been led during that stretch by former first overall pick Nail Yakupov, who has four goals and three assists over that span while earning more playing time as a top-6 forward. Despite the surge, the Oilers remain at the bottom of the West ledger.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS-N+ (Minnesota), SNOL (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE WILD (29-21-7): Questions have risen about whether Minnesota may be overworking Dubnyk, who will make his 16th consecutive start Friday night, but coach Mike Yeo isn't concerned about the goaltender's workload. "He was playing in a backup role earlier in the season, so it's not like he's already played 40, 50 games this year," Yeo told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "Where we're at in the schedule, looking at the days off we have in between games, if we feel he needs rest, then we'll (give him a rest.) But right now, we don't feel like there's that urgency."
ABOUT THE OILERS (17-32-10): Finding positives have been difficult for Edmonton fans who will endure a ninth consecutive season without a playoff appearances - but improvements are starting to appear since interim coach Todd Nelson took over. The biggest may be in the team's suddenly explosive power play, which is operating at a 21.5-percent success rate in 23 games under Nelson after converting just 12 percent of the time in 36 games under Dallas Eakins. Nelson is a respectable 10-10-3 at the helm.
OVERTIME
1. Minnesota has won three of the last four meetings, including a 2-1 decision Jan. 27.
2. The road team has prevailed in five of the last six encounters.
3. Oilers D Oscar Klefbom has nine points in his last 12 games.