Preview: The Tampa Bay Lightning visit Minnesota in the Wild’s hot streak

The Minnesota Wild haven’t been as good as they could have been during the holiday season. They have won two of their last four games, including a pair against stinkers San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars. Fortunately, they balanced that out by winning the game Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues to an almost embarrassing amount.

So, which version will we see tonight against Tampa Bay Lightning?

Wild vs. The Flash

When: 8:30 p.m. CT
Where: Xcel Energy Center
TV: TNT
Radio: KFAN 100.3

No matter what day it is in the last decade, a game against the Lightning is tough. And somehow they’ve just managed to keep it all together and continue to win multiple hockey games. But the Wild have been on a solid track all season, and we should have at least some confidence heading into this home game, which is only one season we have to think about.

Prior to this four-game flurry of results, the Wild had won six in a row and looked unstoppable. Everyone scored, the defense worked its magic, and the goaltending may have been the best the Wild has seen in net in years.

But on the other hand, the Lightning have also won their last four games and are 24-11-1 on the season. Which is so typical of Tampa, and it’s annoying.

Two good teams meet tonight, so it probably depends on individual talent.

Designed Wild lineup

Kirill Kaprizov Sam Steel Mats Zuccarello
Jordan Greenway Joel Eriksson Ek Marcus Foligno
Matt Boldy Frederick Gaudreau Ryan Hartman
Mason Shaw Connor Dewar Ryan Reaves

Jake Middleton Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brod’s Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill Calen Addison

Filip Gustavsson will start tonight as Dean Evason gives the young netminder more and more starts and lets Marc-Andre Fleury rest a bit.

The lines remain the same as against the Blues last year (hehe, haha) and Joel Eriksson Ek’s injury scare has been settled before the Wild even had to play a game. Everything is fine!

Projected Lightning lineup

Brandon Hagel Brayden Point Nikita Kucherov
Anthony Cirelli Steven Stamkos Alex Killorn
Ross Colton Nick Paul Patrick Maroon
Vlad Namestnikov Pierre-Edouard Bellemare Corey Perry

Victor Hedman Zach Bogosian
Mikhail Sergachev Nick Perbix
Ian Cole Erik Cernak

Andrei Vasilevski starts today. Ah, okay.

Yeah, I mean the Lightning can get away with having a scorer, a playmaker and a raw anticipation monster machine on basically every line. If they can’t create more scoring chances than you, they’ll go ahead and be as physically mean and dirty a team as they can be. I think that’s how they were able to win a bunch simply to build a team that can win in any way possible.

Puck drop is for some reason at 8:30 p.m.

Burning questions

Can the team hold the Lightning under 30 shots?

It’s not the most sublime of goals, but it would be an excellent sign if this team can hold on that the team does not get many shots on goal and/or scoring opportunities. Because they have someone on every line capable of taking on a relentless offense, and also have excellent transition blueliners, there’s a reason why they’ve won some Stanley Cups.

Will Kaprizov score a couple of points?

Let’s just think about all-stars vs all-stars and we just want to see Kirill Kaprizov play and get his first multi-point game since December 18th. It’s not like he wasn’t that productive, but he was also used to dropping. our jaw every time he hits the ice.