By Thomas Williams -
Usually when the Edmonton Oilers come to town it is a giant concern about which player will have to shutdown Connor McDavid (usually Joel Eriksson Ek, who does a fantastic job). But we can rest just a little bit easier now.
McDavid is out with an injury and the Oilers have to go on without the most talented skater in the NHL. They are of course still dangerous, but the way that they have been playing with their captain makes it feel like they are now doomed without him.
For the Minnesota Wild, this is a significant opportunity to put some past concerns behind them. They have earned a 2-2-1 record this season, so nothing is feeling just quite right yet. They just lost in overtime to one of the worst teams in the league and are dealing with something we thought they never would: A lack of defense.
Vinni Lettieri gets to make his Wild debut and despite young defenseman Daemon Hunt being called up, it appears that Jon Merrill is healthy enough to go and his NHL debut will have to be put on hold, for now.
When: 8:00 p.m. CT
Where: Xcel Energy Center
TV: Bally Sports North
Radio: KFAN 100.3
Projected Wild lineup
Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Patrick Maroon
Marcus Foligno -- Marco Rossi -- Frederick Gaudreau
Brandon Duhaime -- Connor Dewar -- Vinni Lettieri
Jonas Brodin -- Calen Addison
Jake Middleton -- Brock Faber
Dakota Mermis -- Jon Merrill
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
Projected Oilers lineup
Evander Kane -- Leon Draisaitl -- Mattias Janmark
Warren Foegele -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Zach Hyman
Dylan Holloway -- Ryan McLeod -- Connor Brown
Adam Erne -- Derek Ryan
Mattias Ekholm -- Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse -- Cody Ceci
Brett Kulak -- Vincent Desharnais
Philip Broberg
Jack Campbell
Stuart Skinner
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