Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise returned to the team’s morning skate Saturday and is expected to play against Nashville Saturday night at the Xcel, the Pioneer Press reports.
Parise missed one practice due to illness.
Returning to the lineup is forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Nate Prosser. Niklas Backstrom will start in goal.
Granlund was out for one game and after a “star” practice yesterday, Coach Mike Yeo decided to put him back at center.
“There’s no sense of entitlement with this kid coming in with how hard he works and how he holds himself accountable. The guy is out of the lineup for a game, and he doesn’t sulk about it. What he does is he does extra, he skates extra, he works on stuff,” Yeo tells Michael Russo of the Star Tribune. “I’ve been around long enough to know that players that do that kind of stuff and have that kind of attitude have success.”
Yeo said he planned to scratch defenseman Marco Scandella and forwards Torrey Mitchell and Matt Kassian.
The Wild will try to end a three-game losing streak. The Predators have won for in a row and beat the Wild last month at the X.
