At the Rink: Wild at Ducks

ANAHEIM -- While no other team in the NHL has struggled to score goals like the Anaheim Ducks have, the Minnesota Wild have hit their own offensive skid. The two scoring-challenged teams will face one another Wednesday at Honda Center (10:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, SN) in the conclusion of Anaheim’s eight-game homestand.

The Wild comes in having been shut out in each of the past two games and on a four-game losing streak. Minnesota hasn’t scored a power play goal since Dec. 28 and coach Mike Yeo says that will be a particular point of emphasis against the League’s best penalty-killing team.

Yeo has mixed up the power-play units but says he will stay the course with the ones he has used in more recent games.

“We’ve tried a lot of different guys out there, so I don’t buy that theory of using different guys,” Yeo said at the Wild's morning skate Wednesday. “There’s not a lot of guys, other than kind of our main penalty-killers, that haven’t had an opportunity there at some point. We’ve changed the complexion of it, we’ve changed a couple things going into tonight. The bottom line is that these are the guys that have to get us out of it.”

Minnesota ranks No. 24 in the League with a 16.9 percent power-play percentage and has scored only six goals with the man-advantage on the road.

“We’re one of the top home power-play teams in the League, but it’s obviously drastically different on the road,” Yeo said. “There’s no rhyme or reason for that and we just have to find a way to be more effective on the road. It’s been a big source of the problem, there’s no question.”

With the Ducks (45 points) chasing the Wild (52 points) in the wild-card race, they’re looking at this game with an elevated sense of urgency.

“We look at these as four-point games,” Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa said. “It’s an opportunity to gain ground, so it’s very important to narrow the gap. It’s a team we could be fighting for a playoff spot so it’s important to assert ourselves and come out and play a good game and get points.”

Anaheim held an optional morning skate on Wednesday. Darcy Kuemper was the first goalie off the ice for Minnesota.

Here are the projected lineups:

WILD

Zach Parise - Mikael Granlund - Jason Pominville

Jason Zucker - Mikko Koivu - Thomas Vanek

Nino Niederreiter - Charlie Coyle - Justin Fontaine

Erik Haula - Jarret Stoll - Chris Porter

Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin - Matt Dumba

Marco Scandella - Nate Prosser

Devan Dubnyk

Darcy Kuemper

Injured: Ryan Carter (hand)

Scratched: Tyson Strachan, Nicklas Backstrom

DUCKS

Rickard Rakell - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry

David Perron - Ryan Kesler - Jakob Silfverberg

Jiri Sekac - Shawn Horcoff - Andrew Cogliano

Patrick Maroon - Nate Thompson - Chris Stewart

Hampus Lindholm - Josh Manson

Sami Vatanen - Kevin Bieksa

Shea Theodore - Korbinian Holzer

John Gibson

Anton Khudobin

Injured: Simon Despres (concussion symptoms), Cam Fowler (knee), Frederik Andersen (upper-body)

Scratched: Adam Clendening

Status Report: Yeo said Kuemper is likely to get the start at the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday … Fowler and his defense partner, Despres, both are getting close to returning to the lineup. Fowler will travel with the Ducks on their upcoming three-game road trip, while Despres will continue to work out with San Diego of the American Hockey League. “We’re starting to pick the pace up a little bit with not too many effects on the knee, so that’s extremely positive,” Fowler said. “No specific timetable on it yet, but for right now, I’m real happy with where I’m at and I hope I keep progressing from here.”

Who’s Hot: Perry has four goals over the past seven games … Getzlaf is riding a five-game assist streak … Kesler has four goals and two assists over the past eight games … Koivu has 27 points in 35 games against his brother Saku’s former team … Pominville has 13 points in 16 games against Anaheim.