Tampa Bay Lightning (18-16-5, fourth in the Atlantic Division) vs. Minnesota Wild (16-16-4, seventh in the Central Division)
Saint Paul, Minnesota; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: The Minnesota Wild enter a matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning as losers of three in a row.
Minnesota is 10-6-2 at home and 16-16-4 overall. The Wild are 3-6-2 in games decided by one goal.
Tampa Bay is 18-16-5 overall and 7-11-2 in road games. The Lightning are eighth in the league with 159 total penalties (averaging 4.1 per game).
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kirill Kaprizov has scored 13 goals with 21 assists for the Wild. Matthew Boldy has four goals and one assist over the last 10 games.
Nikita Kucherov has scored 27 goals with 36 assists for the Lightning. Victor Hedman has 11 assists over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Wild: 6-4-0, averaging 2.8 goals, 4.4 assists, 4.7 penalties and 12.8 penalty minutes while giving up 2.7 goals per game.
Lightning: 5-5-0, averaging 3.1 goals, 5.7 assists, 3.9 penalties and 10.9 penalty minutes while giving up 3.1 goals per game.
INJURIES: Wild: Sam Hentges: out (undisclosed), Jonas Brodin: out (upper-body), Filip Gustavsson: out (lower-body), Kirill Kaprizov: out (upper body), Mats Zuccarello: out (upper body), Vinni Lettieri: out (lower body), Marcus Foligno: day to day (lower-body), Caedan Bankier: out (undisclosed), Michael Milne: out (undisclosed).
Lightning: Mikhail Sergachev: day to day (lower body).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The Associated Press
