Preview: Ducks at Wild

DUCKS (29-18-10) at WILD (37-12-6)
8 p.m. ET; FS-N+, FS-WI, PRIME, NHL.TV

Ducks team scope

The Anaheim Ducks enter the finale of a season-long six-game, 14-day road trip five points behind the San Jose Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division. "These are tough ones when you don't play the number of games that you'd expect, you spend a lot of down time in cities," said coach Randy Carlyle, whose team is 1-3-1 on the trip and has been off since a 6-4 loss at the Washington Capitals on Saturday. "We've made some mistakes in the last [game] and we need to clean up some areas for the next one … [We] can't change what happened in the past. We're looking forward to what we have to do tonight as opposed to what has happened on the road trip." Forward Jakob Silfverberg has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past six games. "I think I've been taking it and putting it more upon myself to produce offensively," he said. "It helps too having a coach who puts you in scoring situations. Having that confidence helps, too." Goalie John Gibson is expected to start his fourth consecutive game. He made 33 saves in the loss at Washington but is 9-5-1 with a 1.98 goals-against average and .934 save percentage in his past 16 starts.

Wild team scope

The Minnesota Wild go for their first season sweep of the Ducks since entering the NHL in 2000. The Wild won on Jan. 8 (2-1) and Jan. 21 (5-3). "It's not like we've torn them apart," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We've won by one goal in one game and scored three goals in three minutes in the last six minutes the next game, so it's been real battles. They're a very good hockey club, as I know very well. They're going to give it their best and hopefully it can be three in a row." The Wild play the fourth of an eight-game homestand, the longest in their history, and are 19-6-1 at Xcel Energy Center. They are 7-1-1 in their past nine games and 13-3-1 in their past 17. Goalie Devan Dubnyk, whose 31 wins lead the NHL, will start.

Ducks projected lineup

Antoine Vermette -- Ryan Getzlaf -- Jakob Silfverberg
Nick Ritchie -- Rickard Rakell -- Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano -- Ryan Kesler -- Logan Shaw
Joseph Cramarossa -- Nate Thompson -- Ondrej Kase
Cam Fowler -- Kevin Bieksa
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Montour
Shea Theodore -- Josh Manson
John Gibson
Jonathan Bernier
Scratched:Jared Boll, Korbinian Holzer
Injured:Sami Vatanen (lower body), Clayton Stoner (lower body), Simon Despres (upper body)

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Mikko Koivu -- Mikael Granlund
Nino Niederreiter -- Eric Staal -- Alex Tuch
Zach Parise -- Charlie Coyle -- Jason Pominville
Chris Stewart -- Erik Haula -- Zack Mitchell
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Marco Scandella -- Christian Folin
Gustav Olofsson -- Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched:Jordan Schroeder
Injured:Matt Dumba (lower body), Jonas Brodin (finger), Victor Bartley (arm)

Status report

Vatanen skated in his first full practice Monday and took part in the morning skate Tuesday. Carlyle said he's almost ready to return. … Boudreau classified Dumba as day to day. Center Tyler Graovac cleared waivers and reported to Iowa of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.

Who's hot

Lindholm has three points (one goal, two assists) in his past two games. … Pominville has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in a five-game point streak and 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in his past 12 games, including points in 11 of those 12. Granlund has 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in his past 16 games. Niederreiter has six points (four goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak and 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) in his past 14 games. Coyle has six points in his past four games.