As a two-time Stanley Cup winner

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(Sports Network) - The Minnesota Wild will try to nail down a playoff spot on Friday, as they host the Edmonton Oilers in the regular-season finale at Xcel Energy Center. . With 53 points, the Wild are even with Columbus and one point behind Detroit, but Minnesota could claim one of the final two playoff spots with a win on Friday. The Wild are the only team in that group with two games left, as the Red Wings and Blue Jackets are both idle on Friday ahead of their regular- season finales on Saturday. Detroit will visit Dallas to close its schedule, while the Blue Jackets will be at home against Nashville. If the Wild fail to secure a playoff spot tonight, a win tomorrow in Colorado would serve the same purpose as Minnesota holds the tiebreaker over Columbus. Getting two points against tonights opponent should be a cinch, if the Wild are able to continue their recent mastery of Edmonton. Minnesota is 3-0 against the Oilers this season and has outscored Edmonton by a combined 12-6 margin during the series. The Wild have claimed four straight and 13 of the last 15 meetings in this series overall, while the Oilers have lost two in a row and 19 of 20 in St. Paul. Minnesota was able to halt a two-game slide and win for the third time in five games with Tuesdays 2-1 home win over the Los Angeles Kings. Niklas Backstrom posted 22 saves to backstop the Wild to the important win at Xcel Energy Center. Cal Clutterbuck and Charlie Coyle each scored once to help the Wild get their playoff push back on track. "Thats how you respond," Wild coach Mike Yeo said of his team rebounding from back-to-back losses. "You have to deal with adversity." Minnesota did lose forward Jason Pominville to a head injury on Tuesday, when he was elbowed up high by Los Angeles captain Dustin Brown, who was suspended two games for the hit. Meanwhile, Pominville, who was acquired from Buffalo at the trade deadline, is day-to-day and he figures to be a game-time decision for Friday. The Wild are playing their final home of the regular season tonight before completing the schedule Saturday at Colorado. Minnesota, which is guaranteed to begin the playoffs on the road if it qualifies, is 14-7-2 as the host this season compared to an 11-11-1 mark on the road. The Oilers, who are tied for 13th in the West, have lost three straight and nine of their last 10 games. The club was dealt a 4-1 setback by visiting Chicago on Wednesday. The easy win allowed the Blackhawks to clinch the Presidents Trophy. Nail Yakupov scored the only goal of the game for the Oilers, while Devan Dubnyk allowed three goals on 29 shots in the loss. "I wish I had an answer for you," said Dubnyk. "We need to be a group of professionals in here and we need to be proud. These games are learning experiences for us and its not acceptable for any of us with the way weve been playing lately." Edmonton, which will complete its season Saturday against the visiting Vancouver Canucks, is 9-11-3 as the road team this season. . The blockbuster trade that will send Kevin Love to team up with LeBron James in Cleveland will be completed on Saturday, making the Cavaliers an instant favourite in the Eastern Conference and turning Andrew Wiggins into something of an anomaly. .Y. -- Dont rule out Niagara Falls as a potential future home of the Buffalo Bills. .Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford broke their Canadian record to win the pairs competition Saturday at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.Sidney Crosby is still the best hockey player in the world. Thats not by any means an outrageous statement and its one that not too many would disagree with, at all. As Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins prepare for Game 7 against the New York Rangers in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, there is one thing about the Pens captain, though, that is considerably less definitive. When it comes to crunch time, is Sidney Crosby still the first player you would turn to? To the northwest of Pittsburgh, in St. Paul, Minnesota to be exact, there is another captain playing tonight in a game that could see his team advance to the conference final, just as Sidney Crosbys Penguins can. In Game 6 of their Western Conference second-round series, the Chicago Blackhawks - led by Jonathan Toews - can advance to a second-straight Western Conference Final by defeating the Minnesota Wild as they continue their defence of the Stanley Cup. As a two-time Stanley Cup winner and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has Toews taken over the mantle as hockeys preeminent go-to guy? The suggestion that Crosby wouldnt be the first player you would turn to in the clutch is by no means a referendum on his status as the games best. It isnt and the Hart Trophy hes likely going to win next month at the NHL Awards (to go along with the one he earned in 2007), confirming his status as the NHLs MVP cements thhat. . Crosby is hockeys best all-around player and has been for some time. Still, the Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia native has recently disappeared when the chips are down. Going into tonights game, Crosby has just one goal in his past 17 playoff games (of course, Rick Nash is enduring that exact same streak of futility, but thats another discussion altogether) and the indelible image of Crosby in these playoffs, thus far, was his Game 6 spear of Dominic Moore. Conversely, Toews could be looking at another Conn Smythe Trophy if he can help lead the Blackhawks to a third Stanley Cup in five seasons. While Crosby languishes with a solitary marker in this years playoffs, Toews has five in 11 games - with four of them game-winning goals. Thats now 10 game-winning goals in his career, most in his teams history. Sure, thats a long ways away from Wayne Gretzky and Brett Hulls joint record of 24 career game-winning goals in the playoffs, but its four more than Crosbys tally in eight fewer career playoff games. Perhaps, even more telling about Toewss current status of big game-breaker is that Crosby, upon being informed that he was being named Canadas captain for Sochi, reportedly wanted Toewss blessing before accepting the C. So who would you rather have in an elimination/advancement game like tonight: Sidney Crosby or Jonathan Toews? As always, its Your Call. ' ' '