Lightning at Wild
The Minnesota Wild will be without top goal scorer and inspirational leader Zach Parise when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Parise, a left wing who has recorded seven goals in 12 games, suffered an apparent knee injury in Thursday’s 3-2 loss to Nashville and will miss at least two contests as the Wild attempt to snap their two-game slide with a depleted lineup.
Justin Fontaine (knee) is one of three other forwards out for Minnesota, which was among the top five scoring teams (3.08 per game) entering Friday’s contests. Wild captain Mikko Koivu, who leads the team with 12 points, told the Star Tribune everyone must step up and, “It’s as simple as that. … That’s part of the game.” The Lightning are wrapping up a four-game road trip during which they won two of the first three, including Thursday’s 4-1 triumph at Buffalo. Captain Steven Stamkos leads the way with seven goals for Tampa Bay, which lost at Minnesota 7-2 last season and has dropped three straight in the Twin Cities.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Sun Sports (Tampa Bay), FSN North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (7-6-2): Nikita Kucherov has raised his game over the last four contests, registering three goals and three assists to go along with a plus-3 rating. Kucherov has been playing with regular linemate Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn the last few games while coach Jon Cooper inserted Valtteri Filppula on right wing with Stamkos and Ondrej Palat on Thursday. Andrei Vasilevskiy, who missed the first month of the season with blood clots, has won his first two starts while Ben Bishop has dropped four in a row despite posting a .937 save percentage in that span.
ABOUT THE WILD (7-3-2): In addition to Parise and Fontaine, the Wild also are without depth forwards Tyler Graovac (groin) and Zac Dalpe (hip) along with defenseman Christian Folin (lower body). Blue-liner Ryan Suter, who was fourth in the league in average ice time (26:36) through Thursday, is second on the team with 11 points and Jason Zucker has 10 – eight during a seven-game point streak. Devan Dubnyk owns seven wins and is 2-1-1 despite allowing a total of 13 goals in his last four games for the Wild, who reside in the bottom-third of the league in goals against.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay assigned D Nikita Nesterov and F Tye McGinn to Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Friday.
2. The Wild have allowed a league-low 26 power-play opportunities, including just one in each of their last six overall games and nine in six home contests.
3. The Lightning had a lead after the opening period for the first time this season Thursday at Buffalo, taking a 3-0 advantage into the middle session.