The Minnesota Wild will play host to the Edmonton Oilers at the Xcel Energy Centre in St. Paul.
The Oilers are riding a 3 game winning streak and it was the kids: Eberle, Hall and Nugent-Hopkins who are leading the club in preseason points. However, the dynamic trio will sit out tonight's game, which will pave the way for the other young guns to make their final impressions before the final cuts are announced next week.
"It certainly creates a lasting impression. Head Coach Tom Renney said. "You always factor that into the equation, naturally. You really do try to look at the body of work. you have to keep in mind, too, the level of competition that they may have played against up to that point in time."
Magnus Paajarvi and veteran Ales Hemsky will flank Eric Belanger on the first line. Anton Lander will centre the second line between Linus Omark and Lennart Petrall. Teemu Hartikainen will play on a line with Ryan Keller and Gilbert Brule. Brule who is arguably on thin ice, received a bit of a wake up call when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins put up a masterful performance with Hall and Eberle a few nights ago. The good news for Brule is that he has the capability to play the wing which in retrospect could pay dividend for the Oilers.
After tonight's match-up the Oilers will fly into Vancouver to play their final preseason game against the Canucks.
Oilers vs Wild 5pm Pacific time
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