Victories have been tougher to come by when the Wild return home from the road.
Wild prepare for rematch with Oilers in worse shape, but still with high hopes
To be more competitive at home against Edmonton, the Wild are focusing on details while key injured players heal.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 15, 2025 at 2:10AM
Same with reinforcements.
The Wild regrouped from their latest trip for practice Tuesday at Tria Rink in St. Paul without their injured players, and coach John Hynes didn’t think any of them would be back in action Wednesday vs. Edmonton at Xcel Energy Center in the nationally televised rematch of the Wild’s worst loss of the season.
“They’re all making good progress,” Hynes said. “I wouldn’t classify the injuries as day to day, but their readiness could be day to day.”
That 7-1 thrashing by the Oilers on Dec. 12, led by Leon Draisaitl’s four points, came against a shorthanded Wild lineup, but the team is even more decimated now.
Top-pairing defenders Brock Faber and Jonas Brodin haven’t suited up since both were hurt last week against St. Louis, with Faber getting elbowed high and Brodin blocking a shot with his right skate.
Captain Jared Spurgeon has resumed skating after the defenseman was slew-footed into the boards on New Year’s Eve by Nashville’s Zachary L’Heureux. But out the longest have been forwards Kirill Kaprizov (nine games) and Jakub Lauko (14).
When he stopped playing to address a lingering lower-body injury, Kaprizov was tied for fourth in NHL scoring with 50 points and was the first-half favorite for league MVP. Currently, he’s tied for 12th, while the likes of Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (points leader) and Draisaitl (first in goals) have bolstered their cases.
“He’s bored out of his mind,” Hynes said of Kaprizov. “Wants to get back. Obviously, very disappointed that he’s been out. He loves the game, loves to compete, but he’s going through his process, working hard and doing everything that he needs to do to get himself ready to go.
“He wants to play, but his body will tell him when he’s ready.”
While the Wild have masked Kaprizov’s absence admirably, going 6-3, their deficits were more noticeable over the weekend — even on the road where they have the best record in the NHL (16-4-3).
They squeaked by San Jose 3-1 on the strength of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury’s season-high 36 saves and a sharp night by the No. 1 line but then fizzled in a make-or-break third period to fall 4-1 to Vegas.
“We play for a good 20, 40 minutes, and then we get moments in the game when we crack and it goes from 1-1 to 3-1, 4-1 pretty quick,” forward Yakov Trenin said.
Perhaps the biggest inconsistency for the Wild is how they perform in St. Paul vs. everywhere else.
At 11-9-1, they have almost as many losses at Xcel Energy Center as they do wins. Their style certainly sets them up for success on the road, but the quick transitions and predictability they strive for should also click at home, where they can dictate matchups and have the crowd on their side.
“It definitely hasn’t been the same, but I don’t know what’s the difference,” Trenin said. “Maybe on the road you keep the game more simple, more structured, and here it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re at home. We gotta dominate, play as a No.1 team.’ But losing some details I guess.”
Homing in on those details will help the Wild stay afloat while their injured players heal and be much more competitive against the Oilers, who have picked up the most points in the NHL since the end of November to climb within one of the third-place Wild in the Western Conference.
“Definitely the first half of the first period is going to be huge,” defenseman Declan Chisholm said. “If we can really bring the pressure out to them and hopefully hem them in their zone for the first few shifts, that can create some good momentum for us. If we can lock down the top-two lines, [Connor] McDavid and Draisaitl, I think Draisaitl had like three, four points against us that night, if we can lock them down, it’ll be a bit more of a quieter night for them.”
Edmonton Oilers at Wild
Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., Xcel Energy Center
TV; radio: TNT; 100.3 FM
Oilers update: The Oilers haven’t dipped much since the Wild last saw them. They’re 7-2-1 in their past 10 games and 17-4-1 since the Wild won 5-3 in Edmonton on Nov. 21. Aside from leading the NHL in goals with 31 and ranking second in points with 64, C Leon Draisaitl is a league-best plus-27. But he has company in the scoring race. C Connor McDavid’s 59 points are tied for fifth.
Injuries: Wild D Jonas Brodin (lower body), D Brock Faber (upper body), LW Kirill Kaprizov (lower body), LW Jakub Lauko (lower body) and D Jared Spurgeon (lower body) are out. Oilers LW Evander Kane (knee) is out.
To be more competitive at home against Edmonton, the Wild are focusing on details while key injured players heal.
