Wild at Senators
The Minnesota Wild will be without their leading scorer as they begin their three-game road trip against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. Zach Parise, who tops Minnesota with 10 points, will not accompany the team on its trek due to an upper-body injury he suffered in Tuesday's 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh. Nino Niederreiter provided the only offense with a short-handed goal in the defeat, which concluded a 2-1-0 homestand and halted the Wild's three-game winning streak.
Ottawa kicked off its four-game homestand with a 3-1 triumph over Detroit on Tuesday. Defenseman Patrick Wiercioch snapped a tie with 5:23 remaining in the third period and captain Erik Karlsson added a power-play goal as the Senators won for just the second time in six overall contests (2-2-2). Minnesota has won just one of its last eight meetings with Ottawa.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN North, FSN Wisconsin (Minnesota), TSN5, RDS (Ottawa)
ABOUT THE WILD (7-4-0): Parise, who is tied for second on the club with four goals, definitely will miss Thursday's game as well as Saturday's contest in Montreal. Minnesota plays seven of its next nine games on the road, where it is 0-for-20 on the power play. Overall, the Wild have scored only twice on 35 man-advantage opportunities for a 5.7 percent success rate - ranking them 29th in the league.
ABOUT THE SENATORS (6-3-2): Ottawa has elected to keep Curtis Lazar on the roster, meaning this season will count as a year on his entry-level contract. "They asked me if I wanted to stay and I quite gladly accepted," Lazar told the Ottawa Sun. "I know that there's still a lot to prove, but hearing that news from (general manager) Bryan Murray was more a sense of relief." The 19-year-old center, who has recorded three assists in nine games, was selected 17th overall in the 2013 draft.
OVERTIME
1. Ottawa has yet to lose in regulation at home, going 3-0-2 at Canadian Tire Centre.
2. Minnesota has outshot its opponent in every game this season.
3. Senators D Chris Phillips did not practice Wednesday after leaving the previous night's game in the third period with a lower-body injury and is day-to-day.