Dub-Mat

MAPLE LEAFS (20-11-1) at WILD (16-11-3)
8 p.m. ET; FS-N, SNO, NHL.TV

Dubnyk is week to week after sustaining a lower-body injury in a 2-1 shootout win against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday. Backup Alex Stalock, who relieved Dubnyk in that game, will start for the Minnesota.
Toronto center Auston Matthews will miss his third straight game after sustaining an upper-body injury in a 4-3 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 9.
The Wild look to win their fifth straight game at home and fourth in a row overall. Minnesota has points in seven straight home games (6-0-1) and is 5-1-0 in its past six games. The Maple Leafs are 3-1-0 in their past four games and 5-2-0 in their past seven.

Players to watch

Toronto forward Tyler Bozak has scored 10 of his 14 points (four goals, six assists) on the road this season.
Minnesota forward Eric Staal has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in his past 14 games. He leads the Wild in points (26), assists (14) and shots on goal (93).

They said it

"[Matthews] is all you [media] talk about or ask me about every day. The team's playing tonight and we plan on winning. I think that's what's really important. I've coached in the League a long time, we've had players injured every single year and that's the way it is. Do you want to have all hands on deck? Absolutely but we don't and that's where you find more players. Someone else gets more ice time, someone else gets an opportunity and if they do something with the opportunity, they never come out of the lineup." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock on missing Auston Matthews
"You probably don't notice it early on. It'll be noticeable if he has an extended period of time out. I mean, like any great player, the team's get back the first week or two because they play above what they're capable of because they know great players are out. If it lasts three, four, five weeks, then all of a sudden, they're in the same boat as a lot of other teams that have lost their No. 1 goalie. It becomes problematic." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau on missing Dubnyk

Maple Leafs projected lineup
Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Mikko Koivu -- Charlie Coyle
Nino Niederreiter -- Eric Staal -- Mikael Granlund
Daniel Winnik -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Chris Stewart
Tyler Ennis -- Matt Cullen -- Zack Mitchell
Ryan Suter -- Mathew Dumba
Jonas Brodin -- Ryan Murphy
Gustav Olofsson -- Nate Prosser
Alex Stalock
Steve Michalek
Scratched:Gustav Oloffsson, Marcus Foligno
Injured: Zach Parise (back), Jared Spurgeon (groin), Devan Dubnyk (lower-body)

Status report

No update on Matthews was given. … Spurgeon and Parise skated and each is nearing a return. ... Minnesota recalled Michalek from Iowa of the American Hockey League on Thursday.

Stat pack

Polak is expected to play in his 200th game with Toronto. The Maple Leafs rank fifth in the NHL in goals-per game (3.31). Andersen is 10-3-1 with 28 goals against and two shutouts in his past 14 starts. He has held opponents to two goals or fewer in nine of those 14 starts. Minnesota has at least one point in 12 of its past 16 games (11-4-1).