Canucks at Wild preview

CANUCKS (24-17-4) at WILD (20-18-6)
4 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, SNP, NHL.TV

The Canucks defeated the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 on Saturday, ending a two-game skid where they had been outscored 14-4.
Minnesota has lost two straight (0-1-1) and is 1-3-1 in its past five games.
Wild defenseman Greg Pateryn is expected to make his season debut after having bilateral core muscle repair surgery on Oct. 1.

Players to watch

Canucks forward Brock Boeser, who scored two goals on Saturday, has four points (three goals, one assist) in a three-game point streak.
Wild forward Kevin Fiala has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past seven games and nine points (three goals, six assists) in his past 12 games.

They said it

The last two games obviously we were terrible in both games, second half of Tampa, Florida whole game we [stunk]. It was only two games, but it felt like 10 [days] to two weeks that we'd been losing. When you lose like that, it doesn't go over well and it's huge that we got the win (against the Sabres) because it topples the snowball effect. We get the win today and now we go to Minnesota with a little energy and a little pep in our step.-- Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev
"I don't like to use the word run or say, 'hey, you gotta win five in a row or six in row' because that seems really difficult when you just talk about it. So let's win [today]. And if you win and have success, maybe it'll roll into [Tuesday at] Pittsburgh. … But you take it one at a time, it adds up just as quickly as saying five or six in a row." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau on needing to string together wins

Canucks projected lineup

J.T. Miller -- Elias Pettersson -- Jake Virtanen
Tanner Pearson -- Bo Horvat -- Loui Eriksson
Antoine Roussel -- Adam Gaudette -- Brock Boeser
Tyler Motte -- Jay Beagle -- Tim Schaller
Quinn Hughes -- Chris Tanev
Alexander Edler -- Tyler Myers
Jordie Benn -- Troy Stecher
Thatcher Demko
Jacob Markstrom
Scratched:Oscar Fantenberg
Injured:Josh Leivo (kneecap), Brandon Sutter (upper body), Micheal Ferland (upper body), Tyler Graovac (lower body)

Wild projected lineup

Jordan Greenway -- Eric Staal -- Mats Zuccarello
Zach Parise -- Mikko Koivu -- Kevin Fiala
Marcus Foligno -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Luke Kunin
Ryan Donato -- Victor Rask -- Ryan Hartman
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba
Carson Soucy -- Greg Pateryn
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched: Brad Hunt
Injured:Jason Zucker (lower body)

Status report

Zucker, who returned to practice Saturday, is a game-time decision. He has missed the past 10 games. … The Wild reassigned goalie Kaapo Kahkonen to Iowa of the American Hockey League.

Stat pack

Horvat, who had a goal and an assist on Saturday, has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past six games. … The Canucks have scored 151 goals this season (including shootout-deciding goals), second in the Western Conference behind Colorado (162). … Suter has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past six games. … Foligno has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past three games.