Preview: The Wild wraps up its six-game homestand against the Lightning before a heavy schedule that includes six of its next seven on the road. The Wild is 8-3-2 all-time against last year's Eastern Conference finalists, including 4-2 at home. The Lightning has been a Jekyll & Hyde team: 7-3 at home but 4-6-2 on road, having been outscored 19-8 in road first periods. Tampa Bay is coming off consecutive victories over Florida.
Players to watch: Lightning C Steven Stamkos has three goals in the past two games and ranks second in the NHL with 14 goals and tied for 10th with 24 points. C Vincent Lecavalier is tied for 15th in the NHL with 10 goals. RW Martin St. Louis is tied for 35th with 19 points. Former Wild Marc-Andre Bergeron is tied for the league lead among defensemen with 19 points. Wild RW Dany Heatley has 14 goals and 31 points in 29 career games vs. the Lightning. C Matt Cullen has 23 points in 49 games. G Niklas Backstrom is 4-1-1 against the Lightning with a 1.79 goals-against average, while G Josh Harding has never played Tampa Bay.
Numbers: The Wild is 1-0-1 in the back end of back-to-backs this season. ... The Wild is 0-2-1 against the Eastern Conference this season. ... The Lightning, known for its defensive alignment in the neutral zone, has given up 3.04 goals per game (ninth highest in the NHL). ... Tampa Bay's road power play ranks 27th (11.6 percent); its road penalty kill ranks fourth (89.1 percent).
Injuries: Wild D Mike Lundin (back) and D Greg Zanon (groin) are questionable. D Marek Zidlicky (concussion) and LW Guillaume Latendresse (concussion) are out. Lightning D Mattias Ohlund (knee) is out and RW Steve Downie (upper body) is questionable.
MICHAEL RUSSO
resize text 
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters