Capitals at Wild preview

CAPITALS (7-6-3) at WILD (11-4-2)
8 p.m. ET; FS-N, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

Wilson was initially suspended 20 games after an illegal check on St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist during a preseason game Sept. 30. His suspension was reduced to 14 games Tuesday, making him eligible to return against Minnesota, after serving 16 games.
The Wild are on a three-game winning streak and have won 10 of their past 12 (10-2-0). They have allowed two goals or fewer in four of their past five games.
The Capitals begin a four-game road trip having lost two straight and 2-3-1 in their past six games. They've scored four goals in their past three games.

Players to watch

Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom has six points (two goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak.
Wild forward Mikael Granlund has five points (four goals, one assist) in a three-game point streak. He has 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in his past 14 games and is two assists from 200 in his NHL career.

They said it

"It was definitely a unique experience, one that you don't ever want to go through. A bit eye-opening. But at the end of the day, there's a game tonight and I have to focus on that. It's a big road trip, and I have to focus on this team getting back on track and help out." -- Capitals forward Tom Wilson
"We're not playing a junior team. We're playing the best team in the League, and no matter what their record is, they are what they are until somebody knocks them off their perch and we haven't been able to do that in the last two years. It's a great challenge for us." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov - Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky -- Lars Eller -- Brett Connolly
Chandler Stephenson -- Travis Boyd -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Dmitry Orlov -- John Carlson
Michal Kempny -- Matt Niskanen
Christian Djoos -- Madison Bowey
Pheonix Copley
Braden Holtby
Scratched:Jonas Siegenthaler, Nic Dowd, Dmitrij Jaskin
Injured:Brooks Orpik (lower body)

Wild projected lineup

Zach Parise -- Mikko Koivu -- Nino Niederreiter
Jason Zucker -- Eric Staal -- Mikael Granlund
Jordan Greenway -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Charlie Coyle
Marcus Foligno -- Eric Fehr -- JT Brown
Ryan Suter -- Mathew Dumba
Jonas Brodin -- Jared Spurgeon
Nick Seeler -- Greg Pateryn
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched:Nate Prosser, Matt Hendricks
Injured:None

Status report

The Capitals sent defenseman Aaron Ness to Hershey of the American Hockey League on Monday.

Stat pack

Kuznetsov has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past seven games and is one assist from 200 in the NHL. …The Wild are 5-0-2 at home and can match their record for the longest season-opening home point streak (8-0-0, Oct. 5-Nov. 2, 2006).