Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. Tampa Bay

The essentials

From Devan Dubnyk's
stardom in net
to Matt Dumba's timely answer to celebrating Ryan Suter's 500-point milestone, the Wild's collective vitality ballooned considerably
Friday night in Dallas
.
A repeat 24 hours later at Xcel Energy Center will be a challenge.
Minnesota hosts the high-flying Tampa Bay Lightning in the latter's first venture away from Amalie Arena this season. The Wild immediately boarded a charter flight following Friday's
3-1, come-from-behind victory
over the Stars and was slated to arrive in St. Paul early Saturday morning.

After some rest and pregame meetings, a well-traveled but energized group will look to replicate its late charge -- Saturday against one of the NHL's best rosters, top to bottom.
The Lightning lineup doesn't look much different from the one that came within a win of playing for the Stanley Cup last season. Led into the season by 2017-18 Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman, electric forward Nikita Kucherov and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay went 4-1-0 during a five-game homestead to open the year.
It has a leg up on Minnesota in the rest department; the Lightning's last outing came Thursday, a 3-1 victory over Detroit.
Following Dubnyk's stellar 33-save performance Friday at American Airlines Center, backup Alex Stalock is expected to start Saturday. Stalock stopped 24 of 27 shots Monday in Minnesota's 4-2 loss at Nashville.
Saturday's 7 p.m. contest will complete a hectic week in terms of travel and the Wild's second back-to-back in six days. Minnesota topped Arizona 2-1 at home a day after traveling to Nashville, took Wednesday off then practiced at TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center on Thursday before flying out to Dallas.
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No place like home

Minnesota has earned a point in all four games at Xcel Energy Center this season (2-0-2), ranking T-2nd amongst Western Conference teams in home points (6), T-5th in the NHL. The Wild is one of nine teams that has not suffered a regulation loss on home ice.
The Wild went 27-6-8 in Saint Paul last season and ranked T-2nd in the NHL for most home points (62).

Getting schooled

Saturday's game marks the Wild's Educator Appreciation Night, featuring a special ticket pack that includes a $5 donation to the Education Minnesota Foundation for every ticket sold.
The club will also hold a
school supply drive
with the Greater Twin Cities United Way. United Way volunteers will collect school supplies at all Xcel Energy Center gates prior to Saturday's game against Tampa Bay. The school supplies will benefit United Way Action Day 2019. Action Day is an all-ages, family-friendly volunteer event that helps Twin Cities kids go back to school with all the supplies they need to learn, succeed and reach their full potential. The Minnesota Wild and Xcel Energy Center will host Action Day 2019 next August.
Fans are asked to bring the following items to the school supply drive at Xcel Energy Center: crayons, colored pencils, glue sticks, markers, notebooks and rulers.

Great Wall of Dubnyk

Devan Dubnyk stopped 33-of-34 shots Friday to extend his point streak to five games (3-0-2). He owns a 2.12 GAA and a .944 SV% in those contests.
The netminder has stopped 220-of-233 total shots through six games this season for a 3-1-2 record with a 2.11 GAA and a .944 SV%. He ranks T-4th amongst NHL goaltenders in wins and ninth in SV% this season.
Video: MIN@DAL: Dubnyk denies Polak, turns away Shore

Consecutive back-to-backs

The Wild will complete its second of 15 sets of back-to-backs this season against the Lightning Saturday. It's Minnesota's second set of back-to-backs in the same week as part of playing four games in six nights (10/15-10/20). The Wild are 1-1-0 in the first night of back-to-backs and 1-0-0 in the second this season.
The Wild went 13-13-4 in its 15 sets of back-to-back games last season. Minnesota went 8-6-1 in the first game, 5-7-3 in the second, including two sweeps. The Wild also went 6-2-1 against teams playing their second game of a back-to-back.

No Staal-ing

Eric Staal skated in his 1,100th NHL game Friday to become the seventh active skate and 188th all-time to reach the 1,100-game milestone. He ranks second in games played in the NHL since entering the League in 2003.
The 34-year-old also tallied an assist and five shots Friday. He owns two points (1-1=2) in the last two games and five points (2-3=5) in seven contests this season. He ranks second on the team in shots (26), T-3rd in goals and T-4th in points.
Staal is three goals shy from reaching 400 and will become the sixth active NHL player to score 400 goals:
- Alex Ovechkin, 613 - Patrick Marleau, 536 - Ilya Kovalchuk, 419 - Sidney Crosby, 411 - Marian Gaborik, 407

Sute up

Ryan Suter used a goal (GWG) and an assist Friday to register his 499th and 500th career points, respectively. He became the sixth active NHL defenseman to reach the 500-point milestone, 65th all-time. Per NHL Stats, he also became the 11th U.S.-born defenseman in NHL history to reach the milestone.

He is two games shy of 1,000 in his career. In NHL history, 108 defensemen have played in 1,000 games. He will become just the 51st NHL defenseman all-time to reach the 500-point milestone and play 1,000 games, joining his uncle in reaching the milestones (Gary Suter, 845 points in 1,145 games).

Storm chasing

ALL-TIME WILD RECORD: 14-7-3 (10-2-0 at Xcel Energy Center, 4-5-3 at Tampa Bay)
2017-18: Minnesota split its season series against Tampa Bay falling 3-0 at Amalie Arena (12/23) and winning 5-2 at Xcel Energy Center (1/20)…C Eric Staal led the Wild with two assists…LW Marcus Foligno, LW Zach Parise, D Nate Prosser, D Jared Spurgeon and LW Jason Zucker each scored a goal…G Alex Stalock stopped 28-of-30 shots in the first contest…G Devan Dubnyk made 21 saves in the second contest…C Tyler Johnson (1-2=3) and C Brayden Point (2-1=3) led the Lightning with three points apiece…D Dan Girardi had two points (1-1=2)…G Andrei Vasilevskiy went 1-1-0 with a 2.03 GAA and a .929 SV% in two starts.
WILD LEADERS: Staal leads the Wild with 72 points (33-39=72) in 71 matches vs. the Lightning - his 33 goals are the most against any NHL team…Parise owns 26 points (13-13=26) in 32 games…C Eric Fehr has 15 points (13-2=15) in 33 contests…C Mikko Koivu has 11 points (4-7=11) in 17 matches.
WILD GOALIES: Dubnyk is 3-2-1 with a 1.91 GAA, a .928 SV% and one shutout in seven games (six starts) against Tampa Bay…Stalock is 0-2-0 with a 3.06 GAA and a .880 SV% in two career starts.
LIGHTNING LEADERS: D Ryan McDonagh leads the Lightning with 12 points (3-9=12) in 10 games vs. the Wild…C Steven Stamkos has nine points (4-5=9) in 13 contests…D Dan Girardi owns seven points (1-6=7) in 14 matches…D Anton Stralman has seven points (1-6=7) in 16 games.

LIGHTNING GOALIES: Vasilevskiy is 3-1-1 with a 1.56 GAA, a .950 SV% and one shutout in five career starts against Minnesota…G Louis Domingue is 1-1-0 with a 2.44 GAA and a .917 SV% in two starts.
CONNECTIONS: Minnesota Wild Assistant General Manager Tom Kurvers spent 10 seasons with the Lightning as senior advisor to the general manager and assistant general manager (2008-18)…RW JT Brown spent parts of six seasons with Tampa Bay, totaling 61 points (19-42=61) and 180 PIM in 286 games (2011-18)…Lightning CEO Steve Griggs spent eight years as vice president of sales and service for the Wild…Tampa Bay assistant coach Derek Lalonde served as head coach for the Iowa Wild for two seasons (2016-18)…Tampa Bay assistant coach Todd Richards served as Wild head coach for two seasons (2009-11)…McDonagh hails from St. Paul.

Did you know?

Minnesota has earned points in six of its last nine games against Tampa Bay (5-3-1) and owns a six-game win streak in Saint Paul, dating back to Nov. 28, 2011…The Wild earned its first-ever franchise win, 6-5, against Tampa Bay at Xcel Energy Center (10/18/00).
Related:
- Takeaways from Friday: Wild 3, Stars 1 - Read joins Wild in Dallas - J.T. Brown doing '23 proud,' just like his dad did - Wild announces school supply drive at Saturday's game vs. Tampa Bay