Jets at Wild preview

JETS (27-13-2) at WILD (21-18-3)
8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN3, NHL.TV

The Jets, 14-5-0 in their past 19 games, trail the Nashville Predators by one point for first place in the Central Division and have scored at least four goals in three of their past four games.
The Wild, 4-2-0 in their past six games after a five-game losing streak (0-4-1), have scored two goals or fewer in eight of their past 11 games.
Goalie Devan Dubnyk will try to win his fourth consecutive start; he's 3-0-0 with a .940 save percentage and one shutout in his past three.

Players to watch

Jets forward Blake Wheeler has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in his past eight games and 30 points (four goals, 26 assists) in his past 21.
Wild forward Zach Parise has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past seven games.

They said it

"[We have to] stay patient. These guys play hard, are defensively responsible, a lot of veteran guys, so it's going to be what you expect later in the season toward playoff time. That's how teams are going to be playing, so it's a great way to flip our mindset and get into those types of games." -- Jets forward Blake Wheeler on facing the Wild
"We've lost [four] in a row [at home] and that's unacceptable. You have to win at home in this League to be successful. If you can be .500 on the road you're successful, but you have to win at home if you want to go anywhere, so we know what's at stake." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau on Minnesota's 10-7-3 record at Xcel Energy Center this season

Jets projected lineup

Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler
Patrik Laine -- Bryan Little -- Jack Roslovic
Mathieu Perreault -- Adam Lowry -- Brandon Tanev
Brendan Lemieux -- Andrew Copp -- Mason Appleton
Josh Morrissey -- Jacob Trouba
Ben Chiarot -- Tyler Myers
Joe Morrow -- Dmitry Kulikov
Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit
Scratched: Nic Petan, Sami Niku
Injured: Dustin Byfuglien (lower body), Nikolaj Ehlers (upper body)

Wild projected lineup

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

Status report

Fehr, who has missed one game, is expected to resume skating soon.

Stat pack

Scheifele has four points (one goal, three assists) in his past two games. … Trouba has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past two games. … Spurgeon has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past four games. ... Koivu needs one goal for 200 in the NHL.