PROJECTED LINES
Lines are from Friday's morning skate in Minnesota.
Forwards
Ondrej Palat - Vladislav Namestnikov - Nikita Kucherov
Brian Boyle - Valtteri Filppula - Erik Condra
Alex Killorn - Brayden Point - Jonathan Drouin
Gabriel Dumont - Cedric Paquette - J.T. Brown
Tyler Johnson skated in morning skate, but did not participate in line rushes and left the skate early.
Defensemen
Victor Hedman - Jake Dotchin
Jason Garrison - Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn - Andrej Sustr
Luke Witkowski was the extra defenseman
Goaltender
Andrei Vasilevskiy expected to start
FRIDAY'S MATCHUP
The Lightning and the Wild are playing their first of two meetings this season...The teams have split the season series the last three seasons, each team winning on home ice...Tampa Bay defeated Minnesota 3-2 in a shootout in the teams' last matchup Jan. 2, 2016 at AMALIE Arena, Ryan Callahan netting the only shootout conversion for either team...Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 30-of-32 shots and three more attempts in the shootout to earn the victory...The Wild earned a 1-0 victory the last time the two teams met at Xcel Energy Center (Nov. 7, 2015), Jared Spurgeon scoring the game's only goal 26 seconds into the second period...Ben Bishop made 24-of-25 stops in that loss...The Lightning have lost four straight in Minnesota and haven't beaten the Wild on the road since April 2, 2011, a 3-1 victory...The Bolts only have two wins all-time in Minnesota, their lowest amount of road wins versus any team in the NHL...Tampa Bay is 2-8-0 all-time in Minnesota...The Lightning are 7-11-1 with one tie all-time overall versus the Wild.
LIGHTNING-WILD STORYLINES
The Lightning are playing the first half of a back-to-back set in Minnesota and are beginning a stretch of four-straight games on the road tonight...The Bolts are playing the third game in a stretch of eight-straight games against Western Conference opponents...
INJURIES
2016-17 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 169
Ryan Callahan - Lower-body injury (INJURED JAN. 7; ANNOUNCED JAN. 15 EXPECTED TO MISS APPROXIMATELY 4 WEEKS) 13 Games
Alex Killorn - Undisclosed injury (DAY-TO-DAY; INJURED FEB. 7) 1 Game
Ondrej Palat - Lower-body injury (DAY-TO-DAY; INJURED FEB. 2) 2 Games
Steven Stamkos - Lateral meniscus tear in right knee (OUT APPROXIMATELY 4 MONTHS; INJURED NOV. 15) 37 Games
TRANSACTIONS
Feb. 8 - Re-assigned F Joel Vermin to AHL Syracuse
Feb. 8 - Re-assigned F Michael Bournival to AHL Syracuse
Feb. 4 - Recalled F Joel Vermin from AHL Syracuse
Jan. 30 - Recalled D Jake Dotchin from AHL Syracuse
Jan. 28 - Re-assigned D Jake Dotchin to AHL Syracuse
Jan. 27 - Re-assigned F Erik Condra to AHL Syracuse
Jan. 26 - Acquired D Jonathan Racine and a 2017 6th round draft pick from Montreal in exchange for D Nikita Nesterov
BACK TO BACK
The Lightning have 16 sets of back-to-back games this season, their most back-to-back sets in a season since 16 were on the schedule in 2010-11 (most all-time back-to-back sets: 19 during 1997-98 and 1993-94 seasons)...Tonight, the Lightning are starting the first set of two-consecutive back-to-backs, sandwiched around their five-day break.
HOW YOU DROUIN
Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin recorded a goal and an assist Feb. 7 vs. LAK for his 33rd and 34th points of the season, setting a new career high for points in a season (previous high: 32 point in 2014-15)...Drouin's multi-point game against the Kings was his seventh of the season and 12th of his career...Drouin has scored a goal in two-consecutive games and has three points over his last two games...Since Dec. 1, Drouin has recorded 13-14--27 in 29 games (he had only seven points in 17 games prior to Dec. 1) and leads the Lightning for points over that span (second: Victor Hedman, 2-23--25)...Since Dec. 1, Drouin is tied for third in the league for power-play points (5-7--12)...Drouin is tied with Nikita Kucherov for the Lightning lead for power-play goals (7) and ranks tied for 19th in the NHL.
