Wild vs. Bruins game preview: Jake Lucchini will make his debut for Minnesota

vs. Boston Bruins, Xcel Energy Center, 6 p.m. today

TV; radio: BSN; 100.3 FM

Stats and analytics: Tap here.

Pregame reading: Marco Rossi's Gordie Howe hat trick included his first-ever hockey fight.

For the fans: The NHL's roster freeze is in effect through midnight on Dec. 28. Minus a few exceptions, teams are prohibited from trades, waivers and loans.

Opening bell: If the rematch between the Wild and Bruins is half as entertaining as their game earlier this week, fans are in for a treat. The Wild rallied and then recovered from blowing a lead late to overcome Boston 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday at TD Garden. Since then, the Wild (14-13-4) won again in overtime vs. Montreal by the same score while the Bruins weren't back in action until Friday at Winnipeg.

Lineup news: Jake Lucchini, who was called up from Iowa on Thursday, will make his debut for the Wild. The Wild played with seven defensemen and 11 forwards against Montreal, but will go the traditional route tonight. Lucchini has one NHL goal, scored for Ottawa last season. Marc-Andre Fleury, who beat Boston earlier this week, starts in goal for the Wild; it is his 998th NHL game.

Watch him: Wild LW Kirill Kaprizov is playing his best hockey of the season right now. After posting his first two-goal game vs. the Bruins, Kaprizov secured his first three-point effort since Oct. 24 two nights later against the Canadiens. Overall, he's picked up six points in three games this week.

Injuries: Wild D Jonas Brodin (upper body), RW Ryan Hartman (upper body), D Jared Spurgeon (lower body) and RW Mats Zuccarello (upper body) are out. Bruins D Derek Forbort (lower body) and D Matt Grzelcyk (upper body) are out. Forbort is a former Duluth East High School and North Dakota player.

Forecast: The tables have turned: Boston is finishing up a back-to-back on the road after the Wild were in that position on Tuesday. But the Wild winning in that situation is looking less surprising because of how well they're handling the adversity they're facing; they've lost just once since Brodin exited the lineup six games ago. Their perseverance is making them a tough matchup because they're never completely out of games. That could once again make them a handful for the Bruins, even with talented goal scorers like RW David Pastrnak and LW Brad Marchand.

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