Wild at Senators preview

WILD (19-17-3) at SENATORS (15-21-5)
1 p.m. ET; TSN5, TVAS, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV

The Senators have been outscored 28-13 during the streak (0-6-0); they last lost seven straight from Nov. 16-29, 2017 (0-6-1).
Goalie Anders Nilsson will make his Senators debut; he was traded from the Vancouver Canucks with forward Darren Archibald for goalie Mike McKenna, forward Tom Pyatt and a sixth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft on Wednesday.
Forward
Rudolfs Balcers
will make his NHL debut; he has 26 points (14 goals, 12 assists) in 36 games with Belleville of the American Hockey League this season. He was acquired in the trade which sent defenseman Erik Karlsson to the San Jose Sharks on Sept. 13.
Goalie Devan Dubnyk will start for the Wild, who are 2-5-1 in their past eight games, and 5-10-1 in their past 16. Minnesota has scored two goals or fewer in six of its past eight games.

Players to watch

Wild forward Zach Parise has six points (three goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak.
Senators goalie Anders Nilsson is 3-8-1 with a 3.09 goals-against average and an .895 save percentage in 12 starts this season.

They said it

"I think Kunin is getting better every night, Charlie is really feeling at home at center ice, and Zach is continuing to do what Zach's doing." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau on the forward line of Zach Parise, Charlie Coyle and Luke Kunin
"He's a straight-line, first-on-puck, drive-and-shoot guy. So he's got the quick hands in close. He's a really good shooter, like anywhere; dots, inside. He's lethal, and we don't have enough of that." -- Senators coach Guy Boucher on Rudolfs Balcers, who will make his NHL debut

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Eric Staal -- Mikael Granlund
Zach Parise -- Charlie Coyle -- Luke Kunin
Jordan Greenway -- Mikko Koivu -- Nino Niederreiter
Marcus Foligno -- Eric Fehr -- Matt Hendricks
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Greg Pateryn
Ryan Murphy
-- Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched: JT Brown
Injured:Matt Dumba (pectoralis muscle), Nick Seeler (upper body)

Senators projected lineup

Brady Tkachuk -- Colin White -- Mark Stone
Ryan Dzingel -- Matt Duchene -- Bobby Ryan
Rudolfs Balcers -- Chris Tierney -- Magnus Paajarvi
Zack Smith -- Mikkel Boedker
Christian Wolanin -- Cody Ceci
Ben Harpur -- Dylan DeMelo
Mark Borowiecki -- Christian Jaros
Max Lajoie
Anders Nilsson
Marcus Hogberg
Scratched:Nicholas Paul
Injured:Jean-Gabriel Pageau (Achilles), Craig Anderson (concussion), Justin Falk (upper body), Thomas Chabot (upper body), Mike Condon (hip)

Status report

Granlund will play after taking a maintenance day on Friday. … The Senators could dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen. … Jaros (broken finger) is questionable, but likely will play. … Pageau will play Sunday against the Carolina Hurricanes. … Anderson has resumed skating. … Condon is expected to return in February.

Stat pack

Koivu needs one goal for 200 in the NHL.