In net, Wallstedt has been the reason Minnesota's record holds up. He's 5-1-1 with 173 saves on 188 shots, and the Wild need that, because Filip Gustavsson is on long-term IR with a hip injury and Wallstedt is the guy for the foreseeable future. He's scheduled to start against Columbus too, so whether he goes back-to-back-ish into Edmonton or the Wild turn to their backup is a question that won't be answered until after Sunday. Tristan Jarry has been steady for Edmonton, with 26 saves in the Utah blowout, and with Frederik Andersen out until maybe December, the crease is his to keep.
The Oilers' one hiccup was a 2-4 home loss to Utah, which ended a 5-game winning streak, and they answered 2 nights later by scoring 3 times in the 1st period and going up 5-0 in Salt Lake City. Our recap of that game said a healthier lineup erased the special-teams and depth edge Utah had in the first meeting, and Zach Hyman scoring on the power play in his return is a big part of that. Edmonton is still missing bodies, though. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has a lower-body injury and the latest word only targets Thursday's game against Carolina, which is after this one, and Jason Dickinson is out. That puts pressure on the depth down the middle.
Minnesota's injury report is the real concern. Brock Faber is out indefinitely after surgery for a fractured skull, Jared Spurgeon and Olli Maatta are both out, and the forward group has lost Marcus Foligno, Nick Foligno and Nico Sturm to IR. That's 3 regular defensemen gone against a McDavid-led attack that just put 6 on Utah. The Wild have gotten by on Kaprizov's finishing and Wallstedt's saves. At Rogers Place, the test is whether a patched-up defense can keep the puck away from the best player in the world for 60 minutes. Puck drop is 7:00 PM MT.