Hurricanes at Wild preview

HURRICANES (29-26-11) at WILD (37-22-7)
8 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-CR, NHL.TV

The Hurricanes, 2-1-0 in their past three games following a six-game losing streak (0-4-2), are two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Wild will try to win for the seventh time in nine games. Minnesota is 6-2-0 in its past eight games and has an NHL-best 52 points at home (23-5-6), including points in 25 of their past 27 home games.
The Wild lead the Dallas Stars by one point for third place in the Central Division and trail the Winnipeg Jets by six points for second.

Players to watch

Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen has goals in four straight games and five points (four goals, one assist) in a four-game point streak.
Wild center Eric Staal has 22 points (14 goals, eight assists) in his past 16 games and 34 goals this season - his most since he scored 40 with Carolina in 2008-09.

They said it

"I think the guys are dialed in and the effort's been consistent throughout the lineup, so nothing really needs to change there. The guys know it's time to be desperate, so each and every game counts." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
"They have a great work ethic and they're a motivated team because they're in the hunt for the playoffs in March, and that hasn't happened to them for a while. They will be a tough." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau on the Hurricanes

Hurricanes projected lineup

Sebastian Aho -- Elias Lindholm -- Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn -- Jordan Staal -- Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner -- Victor Rask -- Phillip Di Giuseppe
Lucas Wallmark -- Derek Ryan -- Lee Stempniak
Jaccob Slavin -- Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin -- Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cam Ward
Scott Darling
Scratched: Klas Dahlbeck
Injured: Joakim Nordstrom (eye)

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Eric Staal -- Mikael Granlund
Zach Parise -- Mikko Koivu -- Charlie Coyle
Nino Niederreiter -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Tyler Ennis
Daniel Winnik -- Matt Cullen -- Marcus Foligno
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Mathew Dumba
Gustav Olofsson -- Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched:None
Injured:Luke Kunin (knee), Nick Seeler (undisclosed)

Status report

Nordstrom skated and could return on Thursday at the Chicago Blackhawks. … Kunin is expected to miss 6-8 months with an ACL tear. … Seeler is day-to-day.

Stat pack

Aho has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past four games. … Williams has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past three games. … Koivu has five points (three goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak. … Zucker has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past six games. Granlund has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past seven games.