Wild at Ducks preview

The Wild begin a four-game trip 1-8-0 away from home while averaging 1.56 goals per game. They're on a three-game winless streak (0-2-1) and 1-3-1 in their past five games.

Ondrej Kase is set to return for the Ducks after missing five games with an upper-body injury. The forward has five points (one goal, four assists) in 11 games.

Anaheim is 6-1-1 at Honda Center, including 2-0-1 to start a season-long seven-game homestand.

Players to watch

Wild forward Eric Staal has five points (two goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak. He also has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past seven games.

Ducks goalie John Gibson is 5-2-1 with a 1.80 goals-against average, .948 save percentage and two shutouts against Minnesota.

They said it

"Everybody needs the points, everybody wants the points, everybody's desperate, (and) so we've got to be more desperate than those guys. I think if we play, for the most part, as solid as we did for, probably, eight periods out of nine last week, then maybe we'll get a little puck luck and things will go our way." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

"(Kase) is such a great energy guy. It starts right when he walks into the rink in the morning. He has a smile on his face. He loves to practice. You can see his energy and his passion for the game. That's really contagious." -- Ducks coach Dallas Eakins

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Eric Staal -- Mats Zuccarello

Zach Parise -- Mikko Koivu -- Kevin Fiala

Ryan Donato -- Luke Kunin -- Ryan Hartman

Marcus Foligno -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Jordan Greenway

Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba

Carson Soucy -- Brad Hunt

Alex Stalock

Devan Dubnyk

Scratched: Nick Seeler, Victor Rask

Injured: Greg Pateryn (abdominal surgery)

Ducks projected lineup

Max Comtois -- Ryan Getzlaf -- Ondrej Kase

Rickard Rakell -- Adam Henrique -- Jakob Silfverberg

Max Jones -- Sam Steel -- Troy Terry

Nick Ritchie -- Derek Grant -- Carter Rowney

Josh Mahura -- Cam Fowler

Hampus Lindholm -- Erik Gudbranson

Jacob Larsson -- Michael Del Zotto

John Gibson

Ryan Miller

Scratched: Korbinian Holzer, Devin Shore, Nicolas Deslauriers

Injured: Josh Manson (lower body)

Status report

Stalock will make his sixth start in place of Dubnyk, who's next game will be the 500th of his NHL career. … Jones was recalled from San Diego of the American Hockey League on Monday.

Stat pack

Greenway will play in his 100th NHL game. ... Getzlaf is on a five-game point streak (four goals, two assists).