Kahkonen OTT MIN preview

SENATORS (11-13-1) at WILD (10-11-4)
4 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, RDS2, TSN5, NHL.TV

Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen is expected to start for the Wild, who are 4-0-3 in their past seven games after going 2-4-1 in their previous seven. Kahkonen won his NHL debut on Tuesday, making 32 saves in a 3-2 win against the New Jersey Devils.
Anders Nilsson is expected to start for Ottawa, which is coming off a 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. The Senators are 3-2-0 in their past five games and 7-4-0 in their past 11.

Players to watch

Senators forward Anthony Duclair has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past six games.
Wild defenseman Ryan Suter has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past five games.

They said it

"That game sticks out for a lot of us. … A little redemption as we go to Minnesota, play the way we've been playing and continue with our process." -- Senators forward Connor Brown on facing the Wild for the first time since a 2-0 loss on Oct. 14
"I told the guys not to look at the standings, just look at how you're playing and eventually things will take care of itself. … We're nowhere near where we want to be at this state, but we so far dug ourselves out of a big hole, but just digging yourselves out of a hole is not what you want to do, you want to fill it in and go from there. I like the way we've been playing, but Ottawa has been doing pretty well the same thing, they're playing well too, so it should make for an interesting game." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Senators projected lineup
Wild projected lineup
Status report

The Senators sent forward Max Veronneau to Belleville of the American Hockey League on Thursday. … Foligno practiced with the Wild Thursday for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury on Nov. 8. He will miss his 10th straight game but could be ready when the Wild host the Dallas Stars on Sunday. ... Dubnyk practiced for the first time after being absent from the team because of a family issue the past four games. He will not play Friday and his full-time return to the team is not known.

Stat pack

Pageau has scored 10 goals in November and is three shy of tying the Senators record for most goals in one month (
Daniel Alfredsson
scored 13 in November 2005). ... Ottawa has scored one goal in its past two games. … Koivu needs one point for 700 in the NHL. ... Staal will play in his 1,200th NHL game.