Lightning at Wild
The Tampa Bay Lightning are the only team in the league that hasn't played on the road but that will change with a five-game, eight-day trip that begins against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night. The Lightning, who visit Chicago on Sunday, finished off a season-opening homestand with four wins in five games after a 3-1 victory over Detroit on Thursday.
“We had to make sure we got off to a good start. … I don’t care who you’re playing, you get four out of five, you’ve got to be really happy with that,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told reporters. “We’ve been home a long time, we’ve enjoyed it. We did what we had to do, now we have to go do it on the road.” Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has played a big role in the Lightning’s strong start and boasts a 1.56 goals against average along with a .950 save percentage in five career games against Minnesota, which has built its first winning streak of the season. The Wild rallied to beat Arizona 2-1 on Tuesday before scoring the final three goals in Friday’s 3-1 victory at Dallas to give them points in five of their last six games (3-1-1). Left wing Zach Parise leads the team with nine points after scoring once and setting up another Friday while defenseman Ryan Suter had a goal and an assist to reach 500 points in his career for Minnesota.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Sun (Tampa Bay), FS North, FS Wisconsin (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (4-1-0): Captain Steven Stamkos, a two-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner, scored his first goal of the season Thursday and became the third Tampa Bay player to post 50 game-winners - joining Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. Right wing Ryan Callahan, who was not expected to return from shoulder surgery until November, was back in the lineup Thursday, recording one shot, two takeaways and three hits in 11:03 of ice time. The Lightning, who were 28th in the league in penalty killing last season, are the only team to not give up a power-play goal in 2018-19 at 23-for-23.
ABOUT THE WILD (3-2-2): Captain Mikko Koivu returned to the lineup Friday after missing one game to be with his wife Helena for the birth of the couple’s third child, and posted a plus-2 rating with one shot in 18:45 of ice time. Suter banked in the winning goal with 7:06 to go Friday and was a plus-3 with three shots in his 998th NHL game while fellow defenseman Matt Dumba scored his second goal in three games and third overall in the win at Dallas. Forward Mikael Granlund, who was kept off the scoresheet in the first three games of the season, posted his fifth point in the last four contests with an assist Friday.
OVERTIME
1. The home team has won the past 11 meetings with the Lightning last winning at Minnesota on April 2, 2011.
2. Tampa Bay F Brayden Point leads the team with four goals while sharing the top spot with Fs Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson at five points.
3. Minnesota C Eric Staal played his 1,100th NHL game Friday and needs three goals to reach 400 in his career.