Lightning at Wild preview

LIGHTNING (31-11-3) at WILD (24-17-5)
9 p.m. ET; SUN-S, FS-N, NHL.TV

The Lightning have scored two goals in the past two games, a 5-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Jan. 11 and a 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday. They are 2-3-1 in their past six games and have allowed four or more goals four times in that span.
Minnesota, which is 6-2-2 in its past 10 games, has a seven-game point streak at home (5-0-2) and has a point in 15 of its past 16 games at home (12-1-3).

Players to watch

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists) in his past 17 games and points in 15 of those games. He leads the NHL in scoring with 61 points (27 goals, 34 assists) and is second in goals behind Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (28).
Wild forward Mikael Granlund has six points (two goals, four assists) during a four-game point streak and 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in his past 10 games.

They said it

"We tell the guys, sometimes you've got to work your way out of these little ruts. Sometimes the results don't always dictate or show the way you're playing, just keep working hard, do the right thing and good things will come out of it." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper
"Most teams that have come out of the break this year have been pretty sloppy in turning pucks over and stuff like that, but hopefully we're not. Hopefully we do the right things and play the right way because we're going to have to beat this team." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

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Lightning projected lineup

Vladislav Namestnikov -- Steven Stamkos -- Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat -- Brayden Point -- Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn -- Yanni Gourde --
Cory Conacher
Chris Kunitz -- Cedric Paquette -- Ryan Callahan
Slater Koekkoek -- Anton Stralman
Mikhail Sergachev -- Dan Girardi
Braydon Coburn -- Jake Dotchin
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Scratched:Andrej Sustr
Injured:Victor Hedman (lower body), Peter Budaj (lower body)

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Mikko Koivu -- Mikael Granlund
Daniel Winnik -- Eric Staal -- Zach Parise
Kyle Rau
-- Charlie Coyle -- Joel Eriksson Ek
Marcus Foligno -- Matt Cullen -- Tyler Ennis
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Mathew Dumba
Gustav Olofsson -- Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched:Chris Stewart, Mike Reilly
Injured: Nino Niederreiter (lower body)

Status report

Tampa Bay starts a season-high eight-game road trip. …Niederreiter is out until after the NHL All-Star break (Jan. 27-28). Minnesota recalled Rau from Iowa of the American Hockey League on Friday. The Wild are returning from a mandatory five-day break.

Stat pack

Johnson has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past five games and 24 points (12 goals, 12 assists) in his past 19. … Koivu has four assists during a four-game point streak and seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past six games.