Wild at Flames preview

Talbot, making back-to-back starts for the second time this season, is 4-2-0 with a 2.07 goals-against average and .938 save percentage in his past seven games (six starts) for the Flames, who seek their fourth consecutive victory after going 2-5-1 in their previous eight games.

Goalie Alex Stalock will start for the Wild, 1-2-1 in their past four games after going 3-1-0 in their previous four. He's 0-2-1 with a 4.56 GAA and .862 save percentage in his past three starts, including allowing four goals on 37 shots in a 5-4 shootout loss to Calgary on Sunday.

Players to watch

Wild defenseman Ryan Suter has six points (two goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak.

Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past four games, and is two points from tying Jim Peplinski (424) for 11th place in Calgary/Atlanta Flames history.

They said it

"It makes it fun, a little playoff series. I think we've played them three times in the last (six) games. We won at home (a 3-0 win on Dec. 23), lost in a shootout. Now it'd be nice to walk away with more points than they do because they're a team we're looking up at. It's a big test tonight. It's going to be fun." -- Wild goaltender Alex Stalock

"We've played them quite a bit. It feels like we've played them 10 times in the last two weeks, but we've played them twice. They're a heavy forechecking team. They come hard. They have some good players, some skilled players. We have to take care of that." -- Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson

Wild projected lineup

Jordan Greenway -- Eric Staal -- Mats Zuccarello

Zach Parise -- Mikko Koivu -- Kevin Fiala

Marcus Foligno -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Luke Kunin

Ryan Donato -- Victor Rask -- Ryan Hartman

Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba

Brad Hunt -- Carson Soucy

Alex Stalock

Kaapo Kahkonen

Scratched: Devan Dubnyk, Matt Bartkowski, Nick Seeler

Injured: Greg Pateryn (lower body), Jason Zucker (lower body)

Flames projected lineup

Matthew Tkachuk -- Elias Lindholm -- Andrew Mangiapane

Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Mikael Backlund

Milan Lucic -- Derek Ryan -- Dillon Dube

Sam Bennett -- Mark Jankowski -- Zac Rinaldo

Mark Giordano -- TJ Brodie

Noah Hanifin -- Travis Hamonic

Oliver Kylington -- Rasmus Andersson

Cam Talbot

David Rittich

Scratched: Tobias Rieder, Michael Stone

Injured: None

Status report

Minnesota held an optional morning skate. … Dubnyk did not travel with the Wild to Calgary; the goalie remained at home tending to his wife, Jenn, who had a medical procedure Tuesday.

Stat pack

Foligno has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past two games. … Koivu is two assists from 500 in the NHL. … Lindholm has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past nine games. … Monahan is three goals from tying Kent Nilsson (189) for ninth place in Flames history and three points from 400 in the NHL.