The Minnesota Wild will hope to get Zach Parise and Erik Haula back in the lineup when it faces the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night.
Parise, who missed the past two games with strep throat, skated along side Eric Staal and Jason Pominville on Minnesota's top line during morning skate and said he's ready to go.
It's been a frustrating stretch for Parise, who has battled the illness for the past several weeks, feeling better for stretches before the sickness creeps back in.
"Haven't felt great for a little while but I'm hoping I'm over it. Hopefully it's getting out of my system," Parise said. "I haven't really been able to do much about it. And with the schedule, it's tough. There's not a lot of rest time and there is a lot of travel. But I can't do anything about it now, just start fresh today.
"Selfishly, it was probably best, for me, five [days] of just being able to rest and not do anything. I hope that it's gone and that I'll continue to feel better and better."
Haula was injured early in the game against the Arizona Coyotes on Dec. 17, skating in just two shifts, then missing the past three games with a lower-body injury.
The break also came at a good time for Haula, who said he's feeling up to speed despite missing the past handful of games. It helps that everyone has been away the past three days, which makes it easier for him to jump back in without a true practice.
Haula skated on the third line between Nino Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle.
"I feel good. I started feeling good during the end span there [before the break] and that was a good sign," Haula said. "For me, it was like a long break. I'm real excited to be back on the ice."
Without Parise and Haula, the Wild continued to build on its winning streak, entering the Christmas break with victories that ran its streak to a franchise-best 10 games.
"They played great. Two tough buildings to play in," Parise said. "I thought they played really well and I'm hoping that we can continue to play well. But I think it was impressive what they were able to do, on the road, and extend the streak to 10 games. It was great."
Predators defenseman P.K. Subban will miss his fifth straight game with an upper-body injury.
Here are the projected lineups:
WILD
Zach Parise - Eric Staal - Jason Pominville
Jason Zucker - Mikko Koivu - Mikael Granlund
Nino Niedereiter - Erik Haula - Charlie Coyle
Chris Stewart - Tyler Graovac - Jordan Schroeder
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Matt Dumba
Marco Scandella - Christian Folin
Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper
PREDATORS
Filip Forsberg - Ryan Johansen - Viktor Arvidsson
Kevin Fiala - Mike Ribeiro - James Neal
Colin Wilson - Mike Fisher - Austin Watson
Reid Boucher - Calle Jarnkrok - Craig Smith
Roman Josi - Ryan Ellis
Mattias Ekholm - Matt Irwin
Petter Granberg - Yannick Weber
Pekka Rinne
Juuse Saros
