MINNESOTA WILD NOTES:
SERIES NOTES
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
All-Time Wild Record: 20-7-4 (14-2-0 at Xcel Energy Center, 6-5-4 at Tampa Bay)
2022-23: Minnesota beat Tampa Bay, 5-1, in the series debut at Xcel Energy Center (1/4)…D Calen Addison led the Wild with three points (1-2=3)…C Sam Steel (1-0=1), C Joel Eriksson Ek (1-0=1), LW Kirill Kaprizov (2-0=2) also scored goals…LW Matt Boldy (0-2=2) had two points…G Filip Gustavsson stopped 34 of 35 shots faced for Minnesota…C Brayden Point (1-0=1) scored the lone goal for Tampa Bay…G Brian Elliott stopped 28 of 32 shots faced.
WILD LEADERS: D Alex Goligoski leads the Wild with 19 points (3-16=19) in 24 games against the Lightning…RW Mats Zuccarello has 14 points (6-8=14) in 23 matches…LW Marcus Foligno owns 13 points (8-5=13) in 27 games…D Jared Spurgeon has 10 points (3-7=10) in 17 contests.
WILD GOALIES: G Marc-Andre Fleury is 21-14-4 with a 2.66 GAA, a .901 SV% and two shutouts in 43 career games (40 starts) against Tampa Bay…Gustavsson is 1-0-0 with a 1.04 GAA and a .971 SV% in one career game against Tampa.
LIGHTNING LEADERS: RW Corey Perry leads Tampa Bay with 41 points (21=20=41) in 52 contests against the Wild…C Steven Stamkos has 13 points (4-8=12) in 20 matches…RW Nikita Kucherov owns 11 points (7-4=11) in 14 games.
LIGHTNING GOALIES: G Andrei Vasilevskiy is 3-4-2 with a 2.53 GAA, a .918 SV% and one shutout in nine career starts vs. Minnesota…Elliott is 10-5-0 with a 2.18 GAA, a .913 SV% and two shutouts in 17 games (15 starts).
FAST FACTS: Minnesota has earned points in 13 of its last 16 games against Tampa Bay (11-3-2) and is on a eight-game point streak since Jan. 20, 2018 (7-0-1)…The Wild is on a 10-game win streak in Saint Paul, its longest active win streak on home ice (since 11/28/11)… Minnesota earned its first-ever franchise win, 6-5, against Tampa Bay at Xcel Energy Center (10/18/00).
ON THE POWER PLAY
• The Wild have converted 30.3 percent (20 of 66) of power-play opportunities at home this season, third-best in the NHL.
• Minnesota recorded a power-play goal in a season-high six consecutive games from Nov. 23 – Dec. 4, going eight-for-19 (42.1 pct.) during that span. The streak tied for the fifth-longest in franchise history.
PENALTY KILLERS
• Since Nov. 8, Minnesota is ninth in the NHL with a 80.7 penalty-kill percentage (96 for 119).
• Minnesota is seventh in the NHL with a 81.9 penalty-kill percentage (68 of 83) on the road this season.
SHORT (HANDED) KINGS
• Minnesota is tied for second in the NHL with seven shorthanded goals this season.
• The total is tied for the team’s second-highest in franchise history through a season’s first 45 games (eight SHG in 2001-02 season).
• Minnesota has not eclipsed seven shorthanded goals in season since recording nine during the 2008-09 campaign.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
• Minnesota collected a point in six consecutive road contests (12/7-1/17), going 4-0-2 during that span.
• Minnesota holds a 12-8-3 record on the road this season. Its .583 road point percentage ranks 11th in the NHL.
• Minnesota went 22-14-5 on the road last season, reaching 20-plus road wins in a season for the fifth time in franchise history.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING NOTES:
LAST GAME
Lightning 3 at Calgary 6
The Tampa Bay Lightning concluded a season-long, five-game road trip with a 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday afternoon at Scotiabank Saddledome…The Bolts fell to 29-15-1 on the season with a road record of 12-11-0…Nazem Kadri opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 17:58 mark of the first period to put CGY up 1-0…Steven Stamkos scored a goal for the third-straight game when he jumped on a loose puck at the right circle and hammered a slap shot over the glove of Dan Vladar to make it a 1-1 game with 9:40 remaining in the second period…Vladislav Namestnikov gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead just 1:10 later after Nick Paul sent a pass to the slot that went off the stick of Vladar and ricocheted off Namestnikov’s left leg for his fourth goal of the season…Tyler Toffoli tied the game at two with 7:42 left in the second period before Rasmus Andersson put CGY up 3-2 at the 17:20 mark of the middle frame…Dillon Dube put CGY up 4-2 7:40 into the third period…With Andrei Vasilevskiy pulled for a sixth attacker, Victor Hedman fired a shot through traffic before Anthony Cirelli jumped on a loose puck in front and buried his third goal of the season to make it a 4-3 game with 4:02 remaining…Jonathan Huberdeau and Blake Coleman scored back-to-back empty-net goals to seal the win for CGY…Vasilevskiy made 29 saves on 32 shots against.
PP: TBL – 0-6 CGY – 1-4
SOG: TBL – 24 CGY – 41
Attendance: 18,831
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Lightning and the Wild are playing the second of two matchups this season and the only meeting at AMALIE Arena…The Bolts dropped the first meeting of the season Jan. 4 at Xcel Energy Center with a 5-1 loss…Andrei Vasilevskiy was scheduled to start in goal for Tampa Bay, but was unable to play due to illness, forcing Brian Elliott to start for the second-straight night for the first time since he did so Dec. 28-29, 2017 with Philadelphia…Joel Eriksson Ek opened the scoring for MIN at the 14:30 mark of the first period before Kirill Kaprizov and Calen Addison scored back-to-back goals at the 7:09 and 9:27 marks of the middle frame to make it 3-0…Brayden Point got the Lightning back within two when he scored on the power play to make it a 3-1 game off assists from Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov with 6:23 remaining in the second…Sam Steel put MIN back up by three 1:58 after Point’s goal when a shot from Jared Spurgeon deflected off his leg and into the back of the net…Kaprizov added an empty-net goal with 2:03 left in regulation for the final tally of the game…Elliott made 28 saves on 32 shots against in the loss…Tampa Bay is 7-3-0 over the last 10 home games vs. MIN and 3-6-1 over the last 10 meetings overall…Kucherov has recorded points in three straight games vs. MIN (2-2—4) and seven of the last 10 meetings (6-4—10)…Kucherov has pointed in four of six career home games vs. MIN (4-2—6)…Mikhail Sergachev has picked up points in four of his last five games vs. MIN (1-3—4)…Steven Stamkos has recorded an assist in the three of his last four games vs. MIN (0-3—3) and six of the last 10 meetings (0-6—6)…Tampa Bay is 10-17-3 with one tie all-time vs. MIN, including a home record of 8-5-1 with one tie…Stamkos (4-9—13) holds the Lightning franchise record for career points vs. MIN.
TBL ALL-TIME POINT LEADERS VS. MIN
- Steven Stamkos – 13 pts. (4-9—13, 20 GP)
- Nikita Kucherov – 11 pts. (7-4—11, 14 GP)
- Martin St. Louis – 9 pts. (3-6—9, 16 GP)
- Anton Stralman – 7 pts. (2-5—7, 9 GP)
TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
Tampa Bay is playing the first game of a three-game homestand tonight…The Bolts will play just five of their 13 games in January on home ice…The Lightning are 7-2-0 against Central Division opponents and 14-6-0 against the Western Conference this season…Tampa Bay is 17-4-1 at home this season with a .795 points percentage, trailing only Boston (.904) and Toronto (.800) for the NHL lead…The Bolts have scored four or more goals in eight of the last nine games at AMALIE Arena…The Lightning have won nine consecutive games at AMALIE Arena, tied for the third-longest home winning streak in franchise history.
INJURIES
2022-23 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 91
Current Injuries:
Nick Perbix (Upper-body injury; Day-to-day) 4 Games
TRANSACTIONS
Jan. 15 – Assigned F Rudolfs Balcers to AHL Syracuse for conditioning
Jan. 2 – Signed D Nick Perbix to a two-year contract extension
