Ducks' Souray likely to rest, while Sbisa returns

ANAHEIM -- Anaheim Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau could give defenseman Sheldon Souray a day off when the Ducks host the Minnesota Wild on Friday.

Boudreau earlier this season suggested he would give veteran blueliners Souray and Toni Lydman days off during back-to-back sequences; Anaheim plays at the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday.

Souray did not take all of his turns with usual partner Francois Beauchemin at the morning skate, and Ben Lovejoy came off with the regulars. Asked if this might be an occasion to rest 36-year-old Souray, Boudreau said, "It might. I've got to talk to him. But somewhere during this month there's going to be days off for him."

Boudreau said he looks at Souray differently due to Souray's history of injuries.

"You look at him, how his season went last year, you look at him that he is an older player, how many minutes he plays -- all of these things you want to take into account," Boudreau said.

"There's a lot of reasons why you want to keep a guy like him fresh because he's done great for us.”

Luca Sbisa will be back in the lineup after he was scratched from Monday's game. Boudreau had a sit-down with Sbisa, who had been a minus-4 in the previous five games.

"He's like, 'It's kind of up-and-down,' which he's not used to seeing from me," Sbisa said. "He just wanted to remind me to play hard every night. He just thinks I have so much potential and it's just a waste if I don’t play up to my potential every night. … It was a real positive talk.

"It was hard to sit out that game against the Kings, especially when we play one of those rivalry games with a lot of heat, a lot of emotions, but I think I came back as a better player our last game. I bounced back really good."

Here are what the potential lineups for the Ducks and Wild could look like Friday:

DUCKS

Kyle Palmieri - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry

Matt Beleskey - Bobby Ryan - Teemu Selanne

Andrew Cogliano - Saku Koivu - Daniel Winnik

Patrick Maroon - Nick Bonino - Emerson Etem

Toni Lydman - Francois Beauchemin

Luca Sbisa - Cam Fowler

Bryan Allen - Ben Lovejoy

Jonas Hiller

Viktor Fasth

Scratched: Sheldon Souray, Brad Staubitz

Hiller was the first off the ice, which means he'll likely get the start rather than Viktor Fasth, who stopped 26 of 27 shots in a 3-1 win against Minnesota on Feb. 1. Hiller would be going for his third straight win. He is 7-4-1 with a 2.47 goals-against average in his career against the Wild.

WILD

Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Charlie Coyle

Dany Heatley - Mikael Granlund - Pierre-Marc Bouchard

Jason Zucker - Matt Cullen - Devin Setoguchi

Mike Rupp - Torrey Mitchell - Kyle Brodziak

Ryan Suter - Jonas Brodin

Clayton Stoner - Jared Spurgeon

Justin Falk - Tom Gilbert

Darcy Kuemper

Niklas Backstrom

Scratched: Zenon Konopka, Nate Prosser

Injured: Cal Clutterbuck (lower body)

Backstrom played Thursday, so Minnesota could give him the day off. Kuemper would make his third career start and first against Anaheim. The Wild opted not to skate Friday.