Game Notes Wild @ Oilers: End the Streak

In the Edmonton Oilers’ 43 NHL seasons, only the Boston Bruins have had more success against them than the Minnesota Wild. Boston has won 49 of its 81 meetings (.604W%), while Minnesota has won 59 of 98 games played (.602W%) v. Edmonton. The Oilers have won 35 of their 98 meetings since the Wild entered the NHL in 2000-01.

— Edmonton loved playing the Wild early on. Edmonton went 4-0-1 (ties) in 2001 and again in 2002. In 2003, the OTL rule came in and the Oilers went 3-0-2. If you lost in OT you got a point, but if no one scored it was a tie for the 2003 and 2004 seasons. In their first 15 meetings, the Oilers won 11 games and picked up one point in every game. But the success v. the Wild was fleeting. The past 18 years have been utter domination by the Wild.

— Over the past 18 seasons the Oilers have won 24 of the 83 meetings vs. the Wild going 24-49-2-8 (W-L-T-OTL). The Oilers have had an ugly .349P% v. the Wild since the 2004 season. They have a .457P% v. Boston in that time. The Wild have been the Oilers’ kryptonite for a long time.

— Edmonton’s offence, regardless of the year, has struggled v. the Wild. Overall, they have averaged 2.29 goals/game all time vs. the Wild, which is the lowest goals/GP vs. any NHL franchise. Anaheim is next at 2.55 followed by Nashville (2.83), Tampa (2.88), and Boston (2.89). Even in the Connor McDavid era, the Oilers have struggled to win and score.

— Since 2015-16 Edmonton is 5-12-2 vs. the Wild and have been outscored 67-49. Edmonton has averaged 2.58 goals/GP. The Oilers have a .549P% overall in that time, but they have an ugly .316P% v. the Wild. They have an even worse .263 winning% v. the Wild.

— For whatever reason, the Wild have owned the Oilers in the McDavid-Draisaitl era.

— The Wild enter tonight on a seven-game winning streak v. the Oilers and have outscored Edmonton 35-16 since the start of 2019-20 season. The oddity is that in that time both teams have won 136 games. The Wild have 293 points while the Oilers have 289. Against the rest of the NHL, the Oilers are 136-76-17 and have the 12th most points, yet they are 0-7 vs. Minnesota.  Some teams are just bad matchups and the Wild have been one for the Oilers for the past 19 years.

— They have crushed Edmonton 5×5 outscoring them 28-11. The Wild have some big heavy forwards, and then really skilled guys like Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello. They can attack in different ways and Edmonton hasn’t found a way to slow them down. The Oilers need to be sound defensively. They have gifted the Wild way too many quality chances during this losing streak.

— Kailer Yamamoto had a strong game v. Arizona, but he is still looking for his first goal of the season. There are 315 forwards who have played over 200 minutes at 5×5 this year. Yamamoto is one of 15 who have yet to score a goal along with Teuvo Taravainen, Paul Stastny, Cole Smith, Milan Lucic, Casey Cizikas, Sammy Blais, Pat Maroon, Jake Evans, Eric Staal, Colin Blackwell, Barrett Hayton, David Gustafsson, Joel Armia and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

— Of those 15 skaters only Yamamoto (17) and Bellemare (10) have fewer than 21 shots. Yamamoto has battled injuries this year, but he needs to shoot more. He’s never been a high-volume shooter, but his 5×5 shot totals are way down. He has four shots in 23 minutes of PK time, which is good, (he had six in 94 last year), but he only has 13 shots in 216 minutes of 5×5 time. He’s at 3.6 shots/60 at 5×5, after being 4.65, 5.14, and 5.6 the previous three seasons. His odds of scoring will increase when he starts shooting more. Prior to his concussion in Tampa Bay, he was battling an upper-body injury so maybe that was part of it, but now that he’s healthy he needs to shoot.

— This pass by Leon Draisaitl should not be overlooked for pass of the year. It was unreal to do it on his backhand in hit McDavid perfectly in stride. Stupid good.

Thanks to Wade for his great bid of $6,000 on the Associate Membership at the Glendale Golf and Country Club yesterday.

We will build a pyramid of giving to help the Holiday Hamper. It is a simple donation.

We will have 15 people donate $100.
Ten people will donate $200.
Four people will donate $500
And two people, or companies, will donate $1000.

And we will raise $7,500 for the Christmas Bureau. (Tax receipt included).

It goes from 2-6 p.m. on TSN 1260. You can text the show between 2-6 p.m. at 101260 and include your name and donation amount. Lisa and her team from the Christmas Bureau will call you to get your information. Thanks in advance.