Wild at Penguins preview

WILD (26-17-5) at PENGUINS (26-21-3)
7 p.m. ET; ATTSN-PT, FS-N, NHL.TV

Goaltender Matt Murray, who will likely be the backup, would be active for the first time since Jan. 7. He returned home to Ontario on Jan. 17 following the death of his father, James Murray, before returning to practice Monday and being scratched against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.
DeSmith has allowed four goals with a .960 save percentage through his first three NHL starts.
The Penguins, 6-2-0 in their past eight games, will look to extend their home winning streak to five games.
Center Matt Cullen will attempt to help the Wild win their third straight game when he returns to Pittsburgh for the first time since signing with Minnesota on Aug. 16. He won the Stanley Cup twice and had 63 points (29 goals, 34 assists) in two seasons with the Penguins.
Cullen had one assist in a 2-1 win against the Penguins on Oct. 28.

Players to watch

Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk is 3-0-1 with a 1.74 goals-against average and.940 save percentage in his past four starts.
Penguins center Sidney Crosby has 16 points (three goals, 13 assists) in a season-long eight-game point streak. He needs one goal to reach 400 in the NHL.

They said it

"The last two years were extraordinary years. Made some great friendships and I loved being here. It's fun being back." -- Wild center Matt Cullen
"Matt Murray is our No. 1 [goalie]. That is what it is. But certainly, Tristan [Jarry] and Casey [DeSmith] are two guys that have shown an ability to be effective in this league." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Mikko Koivu -- Mikael Granlund
Daniel Winnik -- Eric Staal -- Zach Parise
Kyle Rau
-- Charlie Coyle -- Joel Eriksson Ek
Marcus Foligno -- Matt Cullen -- Tyler Ennis
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba
Gustav Olofsson -- Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched:Mike Reilly, Chris Stewart, Jonas Brodin
Injured: Nino Niederreiter (lower body)

Penguins projected lineup

Dominik Simon
-- Sidney Crosby -- Conor Sheary
Carl Hagelin -- Evgeni Malkin -- Patric Hornqvist
Jake Guentzel -- Riley Sheahan -- Phil Kessel
Tom Kuhnhackl --
Jean-Sebastien Dea
-- Bryan Rust
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Olli Maatta -- Justin Schultz
Matt Hunwick -- Jamie Oleksiak
Casey DeSmith
Matt Murray
Scratched:Ian Cole, Ryan Reaves
Injured: Carter Rowney (upper body), Chad Ruhwedel (upper body)

Status report

Niederreiter skated Wednesday and could return Feb. 2 against the Vegas Golden Knights, Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. … The Penguins re-assigned goaltender Tristan Jarry to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.

Stat pack

Minnesota is on a season-long six-game point streak (4-0-2), outscoring opponents 18-11. … With an assist Tuesday, Crosby tied Jaromir Jagr for second on the Penguins' all-time scoring list with 1,079 points (399 goals, 680 assists).