Wild get Tampa Bay in town on second night of back-to-back
The Wild-Lightning game at Xcel Energy Center will be on TNT and likely won't start until after 8:30 p.m.
January 4, 2023 at 2:19AM
Wild update: C Joel Eriksson Ek (maintenance) didn't practice on Tuesday but is expected to play on Wednesday. LW Brandon Duhaime (upper-body injury) remains out, although he continues to skate. LW Kirill Kaprizov is one game shy of tying Marian Gaborik's record for longest point streak on home ice (14 games). G Filip Gustavsson is scheduled to start in net. He's 7-2-1 with a 2.07 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in his past 10 games.
Lightning update: Tampa Bay beat Chicago 4-1 on Tuesday to win its fourth in the row and ninth of past 11. Last season, they went 1-1 vs. the Wild. That lone win came in a shootout (5-4) on Nov. 21, 2021, in Tampa. RW Nikita Kucherov (13-40-53) is tied for fourth in the NHL in scoring and has seven goals in 13 career games against the Wild.
The Wild are off to one of the best starts in franchise history, and Kirill Kaprizov is tied for the NHL scoring lead.
