Wild at Coyotes preview

WILD (40-24-7) at COYOTES (23-36-11)
9 p.m. ET; FS-A PLUS, FS-N, NHL.TV

The Wild, 9-4-0 in their past 13 games, lead the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars by three points for third place in the Central, and trail the second-place Winnipeg Jets by seven points.
The Wild are looking for their first win in three games against Arizona this season; the Coyotes won 4-3 in overtime at Minnesota on Feb. 8, and 5-3 at home on March 1.
Goaltender Antti Raanta, who missed six games with a lower-body injury, is expected to start for Arizona.
The Coyotes, 2-1-0 in their past three games and 10-4-1 in their past 15, have been eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention.

Players to watch

Wild center Eric Staal has 17 points (11 goals, six assists) in his past 13 games. He needs three goals for his first 40-goal season since 2008-09, with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Coyotes forward Christian Dvorak has scored a goal in three of his past four games.

They said it

"Our structure and our defensive game is kind of our staple. It's what makes us successful. It's what creates offense for us." -- Wild center Eric Staal
"They're going to be ready to play. They're not too happy losing a couple games to us." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet on the Wild, 0-1-1 against Arizona this season

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Wild projected lineup

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

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Coyotes projected lineup

Richard Panik -- Derek Stepan -- Clayton Keller
Max Domi -- Christian Dvorak -- Brendan Perlini
Jordan Martinook -- Brad Richardson -- Nick Cousins
Zac Rinaldo -- Josh Archibald -- Christian Fischer
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Jason Demers
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Kevin Connauton -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
Antti Raanta
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: Luke Schenn, Freddie Hamilton
Injured: Laurent Dauphin (lower body)

Status report

Rinaldo, who has has missed the past eight games with an upper-body injury, will be a game-time decision.

Stat pack

Granlund has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in his past 12 games. … Zucker has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games. … Dubnyk is one win shy of 200 in the NHL. … Arizona has scored two goals or fewer in nine of its past 12 games. … Keller has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past five games. … Stepan has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past seven games.