The Edmonton Oilers started the Mike Babcock era with a loss to the Vancouver Canucks, but have bounced back and been red-hot ever since, winning seven of their next eight games, most impressively with some of their top players like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman injured. If the Oilers stay in this form, they’ll need to keep getting replacement-level goaltending from Tristan Jarry and Devon Levi, and they haven’t given much reason not to believe they can do that this season.
It won’t be too easy for them on Tuesday night, as Quinn Hughes and the Minnesota Wild come to town. They rank 16th in goals per game, but top stars like Hughes and Kirill Kaprizov can change the game on any night.
The Wild’s lineup is also a bit depleted, with Brock Faber, Nico Sturm, Jared Spurgeon, and the Foligno brothers all out. Losing two top defensemen could be bad news against a team like the Oilers, who boast Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. It’ll be interesting to see whether Hughes and Jonas Brodin get the assignment, since coaches would normally prefer Hughes stay out of that matchup. However, he may have to go head-to-head with Edmonton’s stars.
Both teams are depleted, but right now it's hard to bet against McDavid, Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard. This would be a great matchup with both teams fully healthy, but with both teams injured, you have to back the team with a player currently playing at the level of a 200-point-pace McDavid.
Wild vs Oilers prediction: Oilers ML (-140) available at time of publishing. Playable to this number.
