Bruins at Wild preview

BRUINS (46-17-10) at WILD (42-24-8)
7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV

Bergeron has missed 13 games with a broken foot. The Bruins, who are 2-0-2 in their past four games and 9-2-2 in their past 13, clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Wednesday and are four points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for first in the Atlantic Division with two games in hand.
The Wild lead the Colorado Avalanche by two points and the St. Louis Blues by three for third place in the Central Division. Alex Stalock will start for Minnesota, which has won three of its past four games (3-0-1) and is 11-4-1 in its past 16.

Players to watch

Bruins forward Brad Marchand has 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in his past 11 games.
Wild forward Jason Zucker has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past four games and has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in his past 14 games.

They said it

"[We want] to win hockey games … If guys are healthy, they're in … There's going to be rust on our group so we've got to make sure we take care of business in the meantime. Yes, we want to get healthy but guys also need to play, so we're balancing that down the stretch here." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy
"It seems like we're 3-0-1 in our last four and we've lost ground on everybody. It's one of those things that you have to keep winning and keep winning right to the end. I don't think there's going to be any letup [in this Western Conference]." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand --Patrice Bergeron -- David Pastrnak
Ryan Donato -- David Krejci -- Brian Gionta
Danton Heinen -- Riley Nash -- Tommy Wingels
Tim Schaller -- Sean Kuraly -- Noel Acciari

Torey Krug -- Adam McQuaid
Nick Holden -- Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk -- Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
Anton Khudobin
Scratched:Jordan Szwarz, Paul Postma
Injured:Rick Nash (upper body), Zdeno Chara (upper body), Jake DeBrusk (upper body), Charlie McAvoy (knee), David Backes (leg laceration)

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Eric Staal -- Mikael Granlund
Zach Parise -- Mikko Koivu -- Charlie Coyle
Zack Mitchell -- Matt Cullen -- Nino Niederreiter
Daniel Winnik -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Marcus Foligno
Ryan Suter -- Mathew Dumba
Jonas Brodin -- Ryan Murphy
Nick Seeler -- Nate Prosser
Alex Stalock
Devan Dubnyk
Scratched:Gustav Olofsson, Tyler Ennis
Injured:Luke Kunin (knee), Jared Spurgeon (hamstring)

Status report

Krug returns after missing two games with an upper-body injury. ... Backes is on the trip and has been cleared to workout but not skate. ... Chara and McAvoy each are skating in Boston. ... Rick Nash has not been skating and there is still no timetable for his return.

Stat pack

Pastrnak has 17 points (seven points, 10 assists) in his past 12 games. ... Riley Nash has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in his past 13 games. … Coyle has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past eight games. ... Eriksson Ek has two goals and one assist during a three-game point streak. ... Staal is one goal away from his first 40-goal season since scoring 40 with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2008-09. He has 29 points (19 goals, 10 assists) in his past 24 games.