Preview: The Wild, coming off a 3-2 victory over Detroit, begins a stretch of six of eight games on the road. The Wild and Oilers haven't met since Dec. 29, 2011 (420 days ago). The Oilers, who two games ago fired a franchise-record 56 shots in a 6-4 victory over Colorado, lost 3-1 to Los Angeles on Tuesday. The Wild is 10-2 in the past 12 meetings.

Players to watch: Oilers D Justin Schultz (22:50) and Wild D Jonas Brodin (21:56) are 1-2 in average ice time per game for rookies. D Ryan Suter leads the NHL in average ice time per game (27:24). G Niklas Backstrom is 22-3-1 all-time vs. the Oilers with a 1.81 goals against average. F Pierre-Marc Bouchard has 41 points in 44 games against Edmonton, his highest point total vs. any team. Oilers LW Ryan Smyth is the sixth-leading scorer against the Wild with 41 points in 57 games. C Sam Gagner is tied for 16th in the NHL with 16 points.

Numbers: The Wild is the lowest-scoring team in the NHL, averaging 2.07 goals per game; the Oilers rank 24th (2.33). ... The Wild ranks 11th in goals against (2.47 goals per game); the Oilers rank 16th (2.67). ... The Oilers rank sixth on the power play (23.9 percent) and fourth on the penalty kill (87.1 percent). ... The Wild ranks 29th in shots per game (26.5); the Oilers give up the most shots per game (33.6).

Injuries: Wild G Josh Harding (symptoms related to multiple sclerosis) is out. Oilers C Shawn Horcoff (knuckle), RW Lennart Petrell (concussion) and LW Ryan Jones (eye) are out.

MICHAEL RUSSO