The Minnesota Wild (9-11-4) continue their four-game road trip Friday night in Edmonton against the Oilers (10-12-1).
The red-hot Oilers have won five in a row and are playing their best hockey of the season after a slow start.
During this win streak, the Oilers beat the Capitals 5-0, Ducks 8-2, Golden Knights 5-4, Jets 3-1 and Hurricanes 6-1 — outscoring the opposition 27-8.
The Wild enter Friday's game with wins in four of their past five games after their four-game win streak — and perfect 4-0 record under coach John Hynes — came to an end in their 2-0 shutout loss to the Canucks in Vancouver on Thursday night.
The Wild, who outshot Vancouver 26-17, played well with 59 percent of the Corsi share (55-38) and 58 percent of the expected goal share (1.85-1.32) at five-on-five, but couldn't get the puck past Casey DeSmith, who made 26 saves.
The Wild (22 points) are six points back from the Predators, who hold the second wild card spot with 28 points. The Wild end their road trip in Seattle against the Kraken on Sunday night.
All data via Natural Stat Trick
Wild projected lines
Kaprizov — Rossi — Zuccarello
Johansson — Eriksson Ek — Boldy
Foligno — Gaudreau — Maroon
Duhaime — Dewar — Hartman
Defensive pairs:
Brodin — Faber
Middleton — Spurgeon
Merrill — Goligoski
Projected starter: Fleury
Oilers projected line
Ryan Nugent Hopkins — Connor McDavid — Zach Hyman
Evander Kane — Leon Draisaitl — Connor Brown
Mattias Janmark — Ryan McLeod — Warren Foegele
Sam Gagner — James Hamblin — Derek Ryan
Defensive pairs:
Darnell Nurse — Cody Ceci
Mattias Ekholm — Evan Bouchard
Brett Kulak — Vincent Desharnais
Projected starter: Stuart Skinner