Morning Skate Wrap Up: Wild at Lightning

The Wild closes out its series against Tampa Bay tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT on TNT and KFAN FM 100.3. In the first meeting between these two teams in St. Paul back on March 3, the Wild earned a 5-1 win. Matt Boldy led the way with three assists, while Brock Faber, Quinn Hughes, Kirill Kaprizov, Yakov Trenin and Vladimir Tarasenko all found the back of the net. That win marked the third straight win for Minnesota over Tampa Bay, and the Wild will look to complete the series sweep for consecutive seasons for the first time since 2018-20.

Coming off a 2-1 overtime win against Dallas at home on Saturday, Minnesota hits the road for a three-game trip that also includes Florida and Boston. After a stretch at home that saw Minnesota go 2-3-1, a road trip could be good for a team that has had success on the road this season. Dating back to December 8, Minnesota owns a 13-3-3 record in games played away from Grand Casino Arena and its .763 point percentage is the second-best in the NHL over that span. In total, the Wild owns a 20-9-4 record in road games this season with a .667 point percentage that ranks fourth in the NHL.

Minnesota will be getting some reinforcements back into its lineup as Joel Eriksson Ek (three games missed) and Kirill Kaprizov (two games missed) will return tonight. Filip Gustavsson will get the start in net tonight for the Wild. In his last six starts on the road, Gustavsson owns a 6-0-0 record with a 2.97 GAA and a .905 SV%. This also marks the second start for Gustavsson against the Lightning this season, as he stopped 24-of-25 shots faced in the first meeting.

For the Lightning, it is coming off a four-game road trip that saw it go 3-0-1, outscoring its opponents 20-10 and going a perfect eight-for-eight on the penalty kill. After winning 11 consecutive home games, Tampa Bay is just 1-3-0 in its last four home games dating back to February 28. Andrei Vasilevskiy is the expected starter for Tampa Bay tonight. He comes into tonight’s game with a 3-0-0 record with a 2.01 GAA and a .909 SV% in his last three starts.

Players to Watch:

Quinn Hughes: Coming of a two-point (0-2=2) outing against Dallas, Hughes will look to continue his strong play against Tampa Bay. In 11 career games against the Lightning, Hughes owns 15 points (4-11=15), including seven points (2-5=7) in his last three games.

Kirill Kaprizov: How will Kaprizov look after missing two games with a lower-body injury is the question. The good news for Kaprizov and Wild fans is, he has never been held off the score sheet against the Lightning. In his eight career games, Kaprizov owns 13 points (8-5=13).