Game Thread: Edmonton Oilers @ Minnesota Wild - Oh Boy!

The Oilers need 9 more points in the next 6 games, preferably against Detroit, Nashville, and Minnesota. Tonight's 4-point game fixes a bunch of ills - but they're down their best player and have a coach that isn't keen on matching lines.

Team Reports

Oilers Report: The Oilers had a number of passengers against St. Louis, and one of them, Ryan Jones has been demoted. We can only hope Ralph Krueger sticks to the morning skate lines and keeps Jones' toxic possession ability away from the top 6.

Wild Report: The Wild are a cork in the ocean at this point. Their fate is tied to the other teams competing against them in the conference.

Expected Line Combinations

Nail Yakupov - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Ales Hemsky

Magnus Paajarvi - Sam Gagner - Jordan Eberle

Ryan Smyth - Eric Belanger - Ryan Jones

Ben Eager - Chris VandeVelde - Lennart Petrell

Justin Schultz - Nick Schultz

Ladislav Smid - Jeff Petry

Theo Peckham - Ryan Whitney

Devan Dubnyk

Scratches: Taylor Hall, Mark Fistric, Corey Potter

Broadcast Information

By The Numbers

• Assuming shot rates remain generally the same, Jordan Eberle needs to score 24 goals on his next 91 shots to duplicate his 2011-12 shooting percentage.
  Assuming shot rates remain generally the same, Jordan Eberle needs to score 18 goals on his next 91 shots to move his shooting percentage up to 15%.
• After being significantly boastful and confident (borderline arrogant), ALL of the critics in this comments section are strangely quiet on the topic of Jordan Eberle's shooting percentage. All of them.
• Mike Yeo is 45-57 through a season-and-a-quarter, yet is still considered a prodigy in some corners and a tactical genius in others.
• Edmonton is 4-4-2 both home and away.
• Vancouver is the only team in the Northwest division with a positive goal differential.