Welcome to the NHL On Tap, a daily look at the games on the NHL schedule. There are two games on the schedule for Wednesday, including two televised nationally in the United States and one in Canada.
Games of the day
Edmonton Oilers at Minnesota Wild (8:30 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS)
Connor McDavid (1,041 points in 685 games), who will play for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off next month, is two points shy of tying Hockey Hall of Famer Jari Kurri (1,043 points in 754 games) for second on Edmonton’s all-time points list behind Wayne Gretzky (1,669 points in 696 games). McDavid has 59 points (17 goals, 42 assists) in 40 games for the Oilers (27-13-3), who have won six of their past seven games and begin a three-game road trip. The Wild (27-13-4) are 6-3-0 since their leading scorer, Kirill Kaprizov (50 points in 34 games) last played Dec. 23 because of a lower-body injury. Minnesota is 11-9-1 at Xcel Energy Center this season and lost 6-1 there to the Colorado Avalanche last Thursday.
Carolina Hurricanes at Buffalo Sabres (6 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, TVAS)
Jordan Staal needs two points for 700 in his NHL career (294 goals, 404 assists) when the Hurricanes (26-15-3) visit the Sabres (16-22-5). Staal, named the League’s Second Star for last week after he had seven points (five goals, two assists) in four games, is poised to join brother Eric Staal (455 goals, 608 assists in 1,063 games) and become the sixth set of brothers to each reach 700 points, joining Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Mikko and Saku Koivu, Geoff and Russ Courtnall, Frank and Peter Mahovlich and Maurice and Henri Richard. Tage Thompson leads Buffalo with 34 points (19 goals,15 assists) in 38 games and is closing in on his fourth consecutive 20-goal season. He would become the first Sabres player with four straight 20-goal seasons since Sam Reinhart (2017-18 to 2020-21).
