Edmonton Oilers vs. Minnesota Wild Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 4/12/2022

Time: 8 p.m. ET

Venue: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN

Where to watch: Bally Sports Wisconsin, Bally Sports North, SNW

DraftKings: Check back later

BetMGM: Check back later

Caesars: Check back later

Oilers: 42-25-6

Wild: 44-21-6

I’m really curious how the Edmonton Oilers plan on keeping things going before people start to believe they are not really contenders in the Western Conference. Edmonton still has questions at goaltending that make me not want to believe that they can actually win a playoff series, but the more they keep winning the idea is going to continue to creep into my head.

So of course we’ll find out if that is all the true on Tuesday when the Oilers play a team with actual goaltending, the Minnesota Wild coming off a 6-3 over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday. We’ll start with the Wild because Sunday was a … well, wild comeback for the folks in green.

Marc-Andre Fleury let in three first-period goals that made things dire for, at the very least, his former team the Vegas Golden Knights can send him a care package. Fleury made 31 saves, and the Wild scored six unanswered goals in what turned into a dominant effort from the home team as they look to further get more separation for second place in the Central Division.

"We weren't playing bad," Fleury said. "The breakaway to start and the power play I should've saved. The second one I didn't see. It gave them momentum. I liked how everybody didn't panic. I think it shows the maturity of the group and the character of the group. We kept pushing to get the next goal, and we did and we went from there.”

The Wild are going to have some interesting decisions to make as it pertains to their goaltending, and the matchup here could make a case for either Fleury or Cam Talbot to get the nod the rest of the way. There’s no way a split tandem is going to work in the postseason. The Golden Knights found that out late against the Montreal Canadiens.

The Chicago Blackhawks are certainly hoping that to be the case, but at least it’s not up to Minnesota to make them happy in that regard.

"That third goal goes in, not going to lie to you, as a coach and a head coach, you go maybe the group needs a little twist here to wake us up," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "You can call a timeout and yell at them, and we don't like to do that. You want them to try to figure it out, or you can pull the goalie and it snaps them into place. … But we knew [Fleury] was going to compete his butt off after that. He almost broke his stick. … You knew he wasn't happy with it. He's accountable for it and he's been through it. Same as we allow our team to figure it out, we don't call a timeout to yell at them. We trust that they'll figure it out. We trust that Marc-Andre Fleury will figure it out, too."

Whether or not it’s Talbot or Fleury, they’re going to get their best from the Oilers, led by the superstar tandem of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Edmonton is coming off a 2-1 shootout loss at home against the Colorado Avalanche, which while they might not have won, the Oilers got a much-needed point for some last-minute separation in the Pacific Division.

Warren Foegle scored the lone goal for Edmonton, who could not get past Darcy Kuemper after he made 49 saves. The Colorado goalie stopped all 11 shots he saw in overtime, and Nathan MacKinnon scored the lone shootout winner for Colorado.

"I thought we played a good game, but obviously, you never like a loss," McDavid said. "I thought we should have found a way to get two [points] and only found a way to get one. It's always disappointing that way, but there's a lot of things to like in that one."

Mikko Koskinen did a tremendous job in what might have been his best goalie performance of the season against one of the more high-powered teams in the league. He’ll need to be at his best again. Kirill Kaprizov has provided an element of offense that is still bizarre to see. Minnesota can score, they can defend, and goaltending is as balanced as it’s ever been. Watch for how the Wild respond, and I think they get another win. Wild win 4-2

Oilers are 6-1 in their last seven against conference opponents.

The under is 7-2-1 in the Oilers' last 10 on two days rest.

Wild are 1-6 in last seven after scoring five goals or more their last game.

Oilers are 7-25 in their last 32 in Minnesota.

Oilers:

Evander Kane -- Connor McDavid -- Jesse Puljujarvi

Zach Hyman -- Leon Draisaitl -- Kailer Yamamoto

Warren Foegele -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Derek Ryan

Derick Brassard -- Ryan McLeod -- Zack Kassian

Darnell Nurse -- Cody Ceci

Duncan Keith -- Evan Bouchard

Brett Kulak -- Tyson Barrie

Mikko Koskinen

Wild:

Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello

Kevin Fiala -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Tyson Jost

Jordan Greenway -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Marcus Foligno

Matt Boldy -- Nick Bjugstad -- Nicolas Deslauriers

Jacob Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin -- Dmitry Kulikov

Jordie Benn -- Alex Goligoski

Marc-Andre Fleury

Points: Connor McDavid -- 108

Goals: Leon Draisaitl -- 50

Assists: Connor McDavid -- 6

Goalie: Mikko Koskinen -- 25-10-4, 3.05 GAA, .904 SV%

Points: Kirill Kaprizov -- 89

Goals: Kirill Kaprizov -- 42

Assists: Mats Zuccarello -- 50

Goalie: Cam Talbot -- 28-12-3, 2.81 GAA, .910 SV%