From the Rink: Wild concludes homestand against Ducks

Xcel Energy Center is the site for tonight's game between the Wild and Anaheim Ducks. It's the final contest in a four-game homestand for Minnesota, one in which it aims to capture two points for the first time in 10 days.
A couple of quick notes: Pontus Aberg is expected to return to the lineup for the first time since he was injured in Dallas on Feb. 1, Minnesota's first game back from the All-Star break/bye week.
Aberg missed the past eight games with a lower-body injury but has been back on the ice for about a week now and practiced in full with the club yesterday at TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center.

He was on the ice again today for morning skate, and with that, cleared for action tonight.
"It's something I've been working on here for the last couple weeks," Aberg said. "It's good to be out there with the team. It's going to be fun to be out there tonight."
Aberg is expected to skate on the fourth line with Brad Hunt and Eric Fehr, but could see some time on the power play, as he had in the games leading up to the injury.
In five games with Minnesota, Aberg had three assists. Before that, he played in 37 games with Anaheim and scored 11 goals with the Ducks, a total that ranked him second on the team at the time of his trade to the Wild.
The injury came at an unfortunate time for Aberg, who had two assists in the final game before the break against Colorado. He was injured nine shifts into the first game back.
"Bad timing. Now I haven't played much in three weeks with the bye week there too," Aberg said. "It's never fun to be out of the lineup and especially being injured, it's a lot of work and it's not always the funnest thing to do."

In case you missed it

Here is today's
Wild Warmup
Kevin Falness and I chatted hockey today, among other things. You can check out that conversation on
the latest PONDcast
The Wild, along with Xcel Energy Center, the Minnesota State High School League, the Minnesota Boys and Girls High School Hockey Coaches Associations and the State of Hockey unveiled
The Eveleth Trophy
on Tuesday, which will be handed out to each of the four state champion hockey teams beginning this season
The trophy looks cool:

The Wild held its
inaugural gaming event
at Mall of America on Monday
The team also held its Whiskey and Wine event over the weekend. WildTV's Ryan Carter was there to check things out:

Here is how the Wild is expected to line up tonight:
Zach Parise - Mikael Granlund - Charlie Coyle
Jordan Greenway - Eric Staal - Jason Zucker
Marcus Foligno - Joel Eriksson Ek - Luke Kunin
Brad Hunt - Eric Fehr - Pontus Aberg

Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Anthony Bitetto
Nick Seeler - Greg Pateryn

Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock

The Ducks come to St. Paul on the heels of a three-game homestand and an impressive 5-2 win against the Washington Capitals. Anaheim fired coach Randy Carlyle on Feb. 10 after starting the month 0-5 and being outscored by a total of 29-7 during that stretch.
Since General Manager Bob Murray also took over as interim coach, the Ducks have won two of three games. The game in St. Paul will be Murray's first road game as coach, a contest that marks the start of a four-game road trip for the Ducks that continues in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
Here is how Anaheim could look:
Rickard Rakell - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry
Max Jones - Adam Henrique - Troy Terry
Devin Shore - Derek Grant - Jakob Silfverberg
Nick Ritchie - Ryan Kesler - Carter Rowney

Cam Fowler - Michael Del Zotto
Hampus Lindholm - Josh Manson
Jaycob Megna - Brandon Montour

Ryan Miller
Kevin Boyle
Watching/listening to tonight's game:
If you're attending tonight's game, here's what's going on: