Preview: Wild at Rangers

WILD (20-8-4) at RANGERS (23-11-1)
7 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-N, NHL.TV

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Wild team scope

The Minnesota Wild will try for a 10th consecutive victory, which would be the most in their history. They also won nine straight from March 8-24, 2007. Coach Bruce Boudreau hopes his players set the record by winning at Madison Square Garden. "Tying is like kissing your sister," Boudreau said following a 4-2 win at the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. "Getting it is the nice thing. Our job's not done. We're going to try out butts off [against the New York Rangers]." Forward Zach Parise will miss his second straight game because of an illness. Center Eric Staal returns for the first time since playing 20 regular-season games and five Stanley Cup Playoff games for the Rangers last season. Staal, who was traded by the Carolina Hurricanes to the Rangers on Feb. 29, 2016, had three goals and six points for New York. He signed a three-year contract with the Wild on July 1. Staal scored a shorthanded goal, the 17th of his NHL career, in the third period against the Canadiens. "I've been a part of some good runs before, never 10 in a row, so this is fun," Staal said. "You want to keep this riding as long as you can, and it's a lot of fun winning. We're going into the [Christmas] break feeling real good, and it's going to be a great effort to put everything on the line [Friday], and then exhale for a couple of days." Goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves against the Canadiens to earn an NHL career-high eighth straight win. Dubnyk hasn't lost in regulation since Nov. 19; the Wild haven't lost in regulation since Nov. 29. Minnesota leads the NHL in goals-against average (1.87) and save percentage (.939), and is tied for first in shutouts (five).

Rangers team scope

Henrik Lundqvist, who will make his 24th start of the season for the Rangers, is one win from passing Dominik Hasek to become the NHL all-time leader in victories by a Europe-born goaltender. Lundqvist has 389 victories; he is 6-4-0 with a 2.92 GAA in 10 career games against the Wild. "My two big idols growing up were Hasek and Patrick Roy; I felt like both of them could dominate games and they came up big in important times for their team," Lundqvist said. "It was mostly their style of play that intrigued me. It was new to see a player like Hasek. I realize you need some luck as a goalie. You need to be part of great teams, and I've been fortunate to play a lot here in New York, so it definitely would mean a lot to be up there with those names in wins." The Rangers are coming off a 7-2 loss at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday but are 6-2-0 in their past eight games. New York has won seven of nine games against Minnesota at Madison Square Garden and is 5-1-0 in the past six. Coach Alain Vigneault was impressed watching the game film in preparation for the Wild. He knows Eric Staal has been a catalyst this season. "There's no doubt he's playing with a lot of confidence, he's making some strong plays with the puck," Vigneault said. "He's always been a smart hockey player, always been capable of defending and doing it well with his size and knowledge of the game."

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Mikko Koivu -- Mikael Granlund
Nino Niederreiter -- Eric Staal -- Charlie Coyle
Chris Stewart -- Tyler Graovac -- Jason Pominville
Jordan Schroeder -- Pat Cannone -- Kurtis Gabriel
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Mathew Dumba
Marco Scandella -- Christian Folin
Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched:Nate Prosser
Injured:Victor Bartley (arm), Erik Haula (lower body), Zach Parise (illness)

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- Derek Stepan -- Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner -- Kevin Hayes -- J.T. Miller
Jimmy Vesey -- Oscar Lindberg -- Jesper Fast
Matt Puempel -- Marek Hrivik -- Brandon Pirri
Ryan McDonagh -- Dan Girardi
Marc Staal -- Nick Holden
Brady Skjei -- Kevin Klein
Henrik Lundqvist
Antti Raanta
Scratched:Adam Clendening
Injured:Rick Nash (groin), Mika Zibanejad (broken fibula), Pavel Buchnevich (back)

Status report

The Wild did not have a morning skate, but Boudreau confirmed Thursday that Parise won't play. Boudreau will name his starting goalie before warmups. Dubnyk is 1-2-0 with a 2.72 GAA and .897 save percentage in three games against the Rangers; Darcy Kuemper is 1-1-0 with a 3.02 GAA, .860 save percentage. ... Vigneault said he will make one final decision regarding his lineup on defense during warmups. "I'm still contemplating that final decision on defense," Vigneault said after the morning skate. "The coaches will have a quick meeting here and go through what we saw yesterday in the Wild-Canadiens game and then make a decision, but everyone will take warmup." Buchnevich, who has missed the past 20 games, took part in the morning skate, but there still is no timetable on his return.

Who's hot

Staal has a season-high six-game point streak (five goals, eight points) and leads the Wild with five game-winning goals. ... Stepan has two goals and nine points in the past 11 games, and four goals and 12 points in the past 17.