A scoring pace nobody saw coming
Kirill Kaprizov has stopped being a pleasant surprise in Minnesota and started being a topic. Sixteen goals and 14 assists through 18 games put him at the top of the league in goals, and the talk around the Wild has moved from whether he can reach 50 to whether 60 or even 70 is in play. He added a goal and three assists in Friday’s 4-1 win over San Jose, and tonight he gets Tampa Bay at home in Saint Paul.
Minnesota is going for a fourth straight win. The Wild have taken at least a point in each of their last seven games and sit 6-0-1 over that stretch.
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Two goalies, no clear answer
The Lightning are not an easy mark. They are 3-0-2 over their last five and beat Chicago 4-1 on Thursday. Nikita Kucherov leads them with 20 points, four goals and 16 assists in 15 games, and Brandon Hagel has 17 points in the same number of games.
Tampa Bay could go with Andrei Vasilevskiy or Dennis Hildeby. Vasilevskiy is 8-3-1 with a 2.75 goals-against average and an .887 save percentage, and he is 7-7-2 in his career against Minnesota. Hildeby is 2-0-1 with a .885 save percentage and has a 1.52 GAA in his two career games against the Wild.
The Wild are expected to start Calvin Pickard, who is 1-1-0 with a 3.50 GAA and an .833 save percentage this season. He has yet to beat the Lightning in regulation or otherwise, going 0-0-3 in three career meetings.
Faber nears a return
There is encouraging news off the ice. Defenseman Brock Faber, out since a puck fractured his skull in a preseason game, is skating in practice and will travel on the road trip that opens Tuesday in Montreal. He will wear protective ear guards on his helmet.
“It could have been a lot worse if, one, I got hit harder in that spot and, two, if I didn’t get the medical attention that I did,” Faber said. Forward Michael McCarron is questionable after leaving Friday’s game with an injury.
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