Predators at Wild preview

PREDATORS (22-9-5) at WILD (19-15-3)
8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV

Dubnyk missed six games because of a lower-body injury and was the backup for Alex Stalock in the Wild's 4-2 win against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.
The Predators ended a season-long three game losing streak (0-2-1) with a 2-1 win against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday. They lead the Central Division with 49 points, one ahead of the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues.
The game is the first game of a back-to-back, home-and-home set. They'll play at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, FS-N, NHL.TV).

Players to watch

Predators forward Kevin Fiala has 12 points (eight goals, four assists) in the past 11 games.
Wild forward Eric Staal has nine points (five goals, four assists) in the past nine games and leads Minnesota with 32 points (15 goals, 17 assists) in 37 games.

They said it

"We just worry about the first one right now, and when the sun comes up tomorrow we deal with [the second game of a back-to-back] then. It'd be nice to get a roll of the bench and not try tax someone too much, but you never know how the game's going to play out and we'll do whatever we have to do to win tonight." -- Predators coach Peter Laviolette
"I'm excited. It's going to be fun. It hasn't been that long but it feels like a long time. [I] just got to try to keep my approach simple. It usually only takes a couple minutes to get back into feeling normal. I just got to concentrate on a couple small things and get back into the flow." -- Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk, on his first start since getting injured Dec. 12

Predators projected lineup

Colton Sissons -- Ryan Johansen -- Viktor Arvidsson
Kevin Fiala -- Kyle Turris -- Craig Smith
Filip Forsberg -- Calle Jarnkrok -- Pontus Aberg
Miikka Salomaki -- Nick Bonino -- Austin Watson
Roman Josi -- Mattias Ekholm
Alexei Emelin -- P.K. Subban
Matt Irwin -- Yannick Weber
Pekka Rinne
Juuse Saros
Scratched:Cody McLeod, Anthony Bitetto, Scott Hartnell
Injured:Ryan Ellis (knee)

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Mikko Koivu -- Mikael Granlund
Tyler Ennis -- Eric Staal -- Charlie Coyle
Daniel Winnik -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Chris Stewart
Marcus Foligno -- Matt Cullen -- Zack Mitchell
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Mathew Dumba
Mike Reilly -- Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched: Gustav Olofsson](https://www.nhl.com/player/gustav-olofsson-8477467?season=20172018)
Injured:Zach Parise (back), Nino Niederreiter (lower body)

Status report

Ellis could make his season debut next week. … Niederreiter skated on his own for the first time Friday since being injured. Parise took part in the morning skate after playing 15:26 with Iowa of the American Hockey League on a conditioning stint Thursday.

Stat pack

Smith has nine points (four goals, five assists) in the past nine games. … The Wild has one point in nine of its last 10 games at home (8-1-1). … Granlund has eight points (two goals, six assists) in the past 10 games.