Raw Charge
Summary
Time: 7:00 PM EST Location: Benchmark International Arena TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, Wild+, ESPN+ 102.5 The Bone Odds: Lightning -130 Know the Opponents: Hockey Wilderness Dynamic playmaker who can single-handedly take over a game? Check Stanley Cup aspirations despite playing in a tough division? Check Recent history of struggling to get out of the first round? Check Count Zac Bierk among their alumni? Check Are the Minnesota Wild the Tampa Bay Lightning without the Stanley Cups? Sure, why not? Whether you agree or disagree with the comparison you can agree that tonight’s match-up between the Wild and Lightning should be good one. Both teams are expected to be in the mix for the Stanley Cup at the end of the season, but have to battle through some tough competition to get there. Minnesota opened the season with wins over Nashville and Boston before dropping a 3-2 contest to the Buffalo Sabres in overtime on Tuesday. In net for all three games has been Jesper Wallstedt, and the 23-year-old has been sensational. So far, he’s posted a 1.63 GAA and .933 SV% as he’s taken over for the injured Filip Gustavsson as the number one starter. In a bit of a surprise, it appears Dennis Hildeby will be making his Tampa Bay Lightning debut as he was the first off of the ice at the morning skate this morning. With no back-to-back games until the end of the month, Coach Jon Cooper had to find a way get some work for his back-up early in the season, and it has the added benefit of giving Andrei Vasilevskiy a couple of extra days of rest before the upcoming roadt trip to New York. Other than that, it doesn’t look like there will be any other line-up changes for the Bolts. Dominic James will have to wait a few more days to make his season debut as Coach Cooper wants to keep things rolling with the configuration that produced a fairly dominant statistical win over the Flyers earlier in the week. The Lightning did debut a slightly different power play rotation in Wednesday’s practice, but Coach Cooper did warn the media that it might not be a given that he uses it against the Wild, “Listen, it’s early in the year, and we you know we don’t get a ton of practice time, so you have to try different things. So who knows? Maybe this is something we’ll go with.” No matter what configuration they go with, it’s going to be a rough go against a solid defensive Wild team. They are a perfect 9-for-9 on the penalty kill. They’ve only allowed four goals at 5v5, but part of that might be the play of Wallstedt. Their 25.96 Scoring Chances Against/60 is middle of the pack in the league early in the season and their 11.49 HDCA/60 is 19th. They are missing a key piece of their defense in Brock Faber, who is recovering from surgery after being struck in the head with a puck in their opening game against Nashville. It is likely that they will be without Nick Foligno as well. Unfortunately for the Lightning they still have Quinn Hughes (the aforementioned dynamic playmaker with an expiring contract) and his team-leading four points as well as Kirill Kaprizov, who was, at one point, the highest paid player in the NHL. Kaprizov isn’t letting the fact that he was passed by multiple players on that list this season slow him down as he’s leading the Wild with three goals on the season. After having a solid advantage against a struggling team in Philadelphia and a tired team in Washington, the Lightning are facing a rested Wild team that can match them up and down the line-up. The Bolts will need to keep getting production out of the Pontus Holmberg, Zemgus Girgensons, Ilya Mikheyev line. They were the most productive trio against the Flyers on Tuesday, and could play a big role tonight if the top lines for the two teams cancel each other out. Forwards: Gage Goncalves Brayden Point Nikita Kucherov Brandon Hagel Anthony Cirelli Jake Guentzel Pontus Holmberg Zemgus Girgensons Ilya Mikheyev Conor Geekie Jeff Veal Defense: J.J. Moser John Carlson Ryan McDonagh Erik Cernak Victor Hedman Charle-Edouard D’Astous Max Crozier Goaltenders: Dennis Hildeby Andrei Vasilevskiy Minnesota Wild Forwards: Blake Coleman Joel Eriksson Ek Matt Boldy Kirill Kaprizov Danila Yurov Maxim Shabanov Marcus Foligno Ryan Hartman Bobby Brink Yakov Trenin Michael McCarron Nico Sturm Defense: Quinn Hughes Jared Spurgeon Olli Maatta Jonas Bodina Daemon Hunt Zach Bogosian Goaltenders: Jesper Wallstedt Calvin Pickard