Hurricanes at Wild preview
Martinook to return for Carolina; Minnesota can extend home point streak to six
by Jessi Pierce / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
HURRICANES (11-7-1) at WILD (7-11-1)
2 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, FS-CR, NHL.TV
The Game
Jordan Martinook will return for the Carolina Hurricanes when they play the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.
Martinook missed the past 15 games after having surgery Oct. 11 to repair a core muscle tear.
Carolina has won two straight after a four-game losing streak.
The Wild have won three of their past eight games (3-4-1) and have not lost a home game in regulation since their opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 12 (4-0-1).
Players to watch
Hurricanes defenseman Dougie Hamilton has three goals and two assists during a four-game point streak.
Wild forward Kevin Fiala has six points (four goals, two assists) in the past six games.
They said it
"I'm not the type of guy to ease into it. I don't dip my toe in; I'm diving right in, and I'm going to go out and just play the way I play. I've been pushing myself in practice. That's kind of my test, and it's felt great. Now I'm ready to put it into a game." -- Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook on returning to the lineup
"Jeez, (the Hurricanes are) fast. They pursue the puck really well. All six of their defensemen are good skaters, so they always join the play. … We know that they're going to come out (hard), we've got to make sure to stop that." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau
Hurricanes projected lineup
Andrei Svechnikov -- Sebastian Aho -- Teuvo Teravainen
Ryan Dzingel -- Jordan Staal -- Warren Foegele
Nino Niederreiter -- Lucas Wallmark -- Martin Necas
Brock McGinn -- Erik Haula -- Jordan Martinook
Jaccob Slavin -- Dougie Hamilton
Joel Edmundson -- Brett Pesce
Jake Gardiner -- Haydn Fleury
Petr Mrazek
James Reimer
Scratched: Trevor van Riemsdyk
Injured: None
Wild projected lineup
Jason Zucker -- Eric Staal -- Mats Zuccarello
Zach Parise -- Mikko Koivu -- Kevin Fiala
Jordan Greenway -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Luke Kunin
Ryan Donato -- Victor Rask -- Ryan Hartman
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba
Carson Soucy -- Brad Hunt
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched: Nick Seeler
Injured: Marcus Foligno (lower body), Greg Pateryn (core muscle)
Status report
The Hurricanes sent forward Brian Gibbons to Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Saturday after he cleared waivers. ... Pateryn participated in his first team practice Friday since he was injured. He wore a noncontact jersey.
Stat pack
Svechnikov has two goals and four assists during a three-game point streak. ... Teravainen has one goal and five assists during a four-game point streak. ... Parise has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past six games.