Here is everything you need to know before puck drop tonight.
ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (27-13-4) are back in action tonight as they play host to the Edmonton Oilers (27-13-3) for the third and final meeting between the two teams this year.
The Wild aren't expected to make any changes for their lineup. Kirill Kaprizov, Brock Faber, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin and Jakub Lauko will all miss tonight's game. It will be the Wild's fourth consecutive game without the five players.
Kaprizov, Faber and Lauko skated this morning with the team for the first time but won't play. It is still encouraging to see them on the ice. Tonight will be the tenth game in a row without Kaprizov.
The Wild have gone 6-3-0 in his absence.
For the Oilers, Calvin Pickard will start tonight. He usually does well against the Wild and did earlier this year when he stopped 29 out of the 30 shots he faced in the Oilers 7-1 win over the Wild.
Mattias Ekholm is questionable to play tonight for the Oilers. If he does not play, Brett Kulak will likely slide in.
Here are tonight's projected lines (subject to change).
Wild Projected Lineup
Matt Boldy - Marco Rossi - Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson - Joel Eriksson Ek - Ryan Hartman
Marcus Foligno - Freddy Gaudreau - Yakov Trenin
Devin Shore - Marat Khusnutdinov - Ben Jones
Defense:
Jon Merrill - Jake Middleton
Declan Chisholm - Zach Bogosian
Travis Dermott - David Jiricek
Starting Goaltender: Filip Gustavsson
Scratched: None
Injured: Brock Faber (upper), Jonas Brodin (lower), Kirill Kaprizov (lower), Jared Spurgeon (lower), Jakub Lauko (lower).
Oilers Projected Lineup
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Connor McDavid - Zach Hyman
Vasily Podkolzin - Leon Draisaitl - Viktor Arvidsson
Mattias Janmark - Adam Henrique - Connor Brown
Kasperi Kapanen - Noah Philp - Corey Perry
Defense:
Mattias Ekholm - Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse - Josh Brown
Brett Kulak - Ty Emberson
Starting Goaltender: Calvin Pickard
Scratched: Derek Ryan, Jeff Skinner, Troy Stetcher
Injured: None
How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on TNT. Kenny Albert will be on the play-by-play with Eddie Olczyk as the color analyst and Brian Boucher a reporter. The radio broadcast will be on KFAN FM 100.3 with Joe O'Donnell behind the mic doing the play-by-play. Tom Reid as the color analyst and Kevin Falness as the Studio Host.
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