Sabres at Wild preview

SABRES (11-6-2) at WILD (12-5-2)
6 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, MSG-B, NHL.TV

The four-game winning streak is the Sabres' longest since they won four straight Dec. 9-Dec. 15, 2014. They last won five in a row March 19-27, 2012. Buffalo, which is 5-1-0 in its past six games, is playing the second half of a back-to-back; it won 2-1 in a shootout at the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.
The Wild are 4-1-0 in their past five games and 11-3-0 in their past 14. They have allowed two goals or fewer in four of their past five games.

Players to watch

Sabres forward Jeff Skinner has five goals in a four-game goal streak and 19 points (13 goals, six assists) in his past 13 games.
Wild forward Mikael Granlund has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past five games and is one assist away from 200 for his NHL career.

They said it

"Early on in the season we've overcome a few deficits and showed some resiliency. Hopefully we can keep that going." -- Sabres forward Conor Sheary
"The one thing you can expect is [Buffalo is] an awful lot better of a team than they have been in the past. When a team has been in the dumps and then they start to play and they realize that they're good, all of a sudden it becomes a tougher out and I firmly believe that they'll put their best foot forward." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Sabres projected lineup

Jeff Skinner -- Jack Eichel -- Sam Reinhart
Vladimir Sobotka -- Patrik Berglund -- Jason Pominville
Conor Sheary -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Kyle Okposo
Zemgus Girgensons -- Johan Larsson -- Tage Thompson
Jake McCabe -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Marco Scandella -- Zach Bogosian
Nathan Beaulieu -- Rasmus Dahlin
Linus Ullmark
Carter Hutton
Scratched: Remi Elie, Casey Nelson, Evan Rodrigues
Injured: Scott Wilson (ankle), Matt Hunwick (neck)

Wild projected lineup

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

Status report

The Sabres did not skate. … Parise practiced Friday and is expected to return after missing one game with an illness.

Stat pack

Eichel has three assists in his past four games. … Zucker has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past four games. … Koivu has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past two games. … The Wild are 6-1-2 at home and one of three teams with one regulation home loss (New York Islanders, 5-1-2; New Jersey Devils, 6-1-1).