At the Rink: Wild at Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes face an opponent Friday that has made itself right at home in opposition arenas lately.

The Minnesota Wild defeated the Washington Capitals 2-1 on Thursday, improving their record to 15-2-1 since the All-Star break. The win was Minnesota's fifth straight on the road; Jason Pominville scored both goals.

"They're playing real well, just dialed right in," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. "They're getting goaltending right now, all four lines play with speed, and their defensemen move it. I like their team a lot. We will have our hands full."

The Hurricanes will evaluate a lot of individual players during the final 20 games of the season. After trading defensemen Andrej Sekera and Tim Gleason and forward Jiri Tlusty prior to the NHL Trade Deadline, there are opportunities for other players to make an impression. Rasmus Rissanen, a veteran of 240 American Hockey League games, will make his debut on the Carolina blue line. A sixth-round pick (No. 178) in the 2009 NHL Draft, Rissanen will play the left side next to Jack Hillen.

"We've got to find out," Peters said. "We're not going to hide him."

The Hurricanes have played well since the start of 2015, but many of their young players have struggled in the latter half of the season. Carolina captain Eric Staal has tried to help some of the less-experienced players understand how to prepare for the rigors of the long season.

"I do, but you try to lead by example with how you prepare and how you come to work every day," Staal said. "But there's also a little bit of figuring it out on your own. You know your body, you know what makes you feel good and helps you perform at a high level."

Minnesota had a limited optional morning skate. Forward Nino Niederreiter, who missed the game against Washington with a lower-body injury, did skate.

Here are the projected lineups.

WILD

Sean Bergenheim - Mikko Koivu - Chris Stewart

Zach Parise - Mikael Granlund - Jason Pominville

Jordan Schroeder - Charlie Coyle - Thomas Vanek

Erik Haula - Kyle Brodziak - Justin Fontaine

Ryan Suter - Jonas Brodin

Nate Prosser - Matt Dumba

Jordan Leopold - Christian Folin

Devan Dubnyk

Darcy Kuemper

Scratched: Niklas Backstrom

Injured: Ryan Carter (upper body), Matt Cooke (sports hernia surgery), Jason Zucker (broken clavicle), Jared Spurgeon (facial injury), Keith Ballard (concussion/facial fractures), Marco Scandella (undisclosed), Nino Niederreiter (lower body).

HURRICANES

Eric Staal - Jordan Staal - Andrej Nestrasil

Jeff Skinner - Riley Nash - Elias Lindholm

Nathan Gerbe - Victor Rask - Alexander Semin

Chris Terry - Jay McClement - Patrick Dwyer

Justin Faulk - Ron Hainsey

Brett Bellemore - John-Michael Liles

Rasmus Rissanen - Jack Hillen

Anton Khudobin

Cam Ward

Scratched: Brad Malone, Michal Jordan

Injured: Ryan Murphy (lower body)

Status report: Dubnyk will make his 23rd straight start for Minnesota. He has a 1.63 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage during that stretch. … If Niederreiter can play, it's likely he would replace Schroeder in the lineup. ... Khudobin, who came on in relief of Ward in a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, will start.

Who's hot: Pominville has three goals in his past three games. … Carolina's penalty-kill unit ranks No. 1 in the NHL at 88.2 percent, while Minnesota is second at 86.5 percent. … McClement has three goals and one assist in his past four games.