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Wild open long road stretch against Oilers

Feb 28, 2009 - 11:16 AM Minnesota (30-25-5-) at Edmonton (30-26-5), 10:00 p.m. EST

EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Wild will prove whether they belong in the playoffs in the upcoming weeks.

Continuing a stretch of playing nine of 10 games on the road, the Wild visit the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday in a battle of teams on the postseason bubble.

Minnesota, which is also slated to play 13 of its next 16 away from home, began its trek with a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Friday.

In that contest, Marc-Andre Bergeron netted the lone goal and All-Star Niklas Backstrom stopped 25 shots for the Wild, who began a six-game road trip by losing for the sixth straight time at Pengrowth Saddledome.

Along with Edmonton, Minnesota has 65 points and is part of a four-way deadlock involving Anaheim and Dallas for the seventh and eighth spots in the conference.

The Oilers, who have lost four of five, are coming off a 1-0 setback to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. They have scored two goals or fewer in each of their last five losses.