Ales Hemsky Out With a Fever

Coming off a 4-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton will look to rebound tonight at Rexall Place hosting the Minnesota Wild and they’ll have to do it without star winger Ales Hemsky who has come up with the fever.

Already missing the services of Sheldon Souray, it will be a large task for the Oilers with their top two offensive minds out of action. Minnesota has yet to win on the road this season and that could change this evening.

Historically, the Wild have had their way in this series including four wins out of six contests last season and not to mention Niklas Backstrom’s incredible 13-1 lifetime record against the Oilers.

Despite the impressive statistics for Minnesota, they too are experiencing injuries to key players. Martin Havlat, Petr Sykora, Cal Clutterbuck and Pierre-Marc Bouchard will all be out of the line-up.

Whomever is the victor, someone will to have to step up for their club during these absences. For Edmonton, expect a huge performance from Denis Grebeshkov, one of the league’s more underrated defenders. The Russian has six points in as many games and hasn’t been afraid to pinch in from the blue line.

And for Minnesota, Eric Belanger is getting massive powerplay minutes scraping together a four-game point streak. With seven points in five games, look for him to continue excelling with a larger role on the attack.

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