Minnesota @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 20, 2018 ) Tampa Bay 4, Minnesota 5

Captain Steven Stamkos and right wing Nikita Kucherov both have a chance to pass Vincent Lecavalier in the franchise record book when their NHL-best Tampa Bay Lightning host the surging Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. Stamkos boasts 382 career goals, one behind Lecavalier for the most in Lightning history, while Kucherov owns a league-high 108 points to match the former Tampa Bay captain, who set his record in 2006-07.

“It’s amazing,” Lightning forward Adam Erne told reporters of Kucherov after Tuesday’s 5-2 victory over Winnipeg. “It just happens for him. He’s a real hard worker. You can tell how hard he works in practice on his particular skills, how well he knows his game and what he needs to do.” The Wild won the last two meetings, including a 5-4 overtime triumph on Oct. 20 at home, but have not won at Tampa Bay since Nov. 14, 2010 with five straight losses in that stretch. Minnesota owns a two-point lead on Colorado for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and is 5-0-2 in its last seven games after rallying to tie late in regulation before losing 5-4 at Nashville in a shootout Tuesday. “The one thing about our team recently (is) we don’t quit,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau told reporters. “We keep fighting and fighting.”

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)

ABOUT THE WILD (32-27-8): Minnesota has received a big boost from 22-year-old Ryan Donato, who has seven points in seven games since coming over from Boston, and recently acquired Kevin Fiala stepped up with his first two goals with the team Tuesday. “He showed that he’s got some pretty good skills,” Boudreau told reporters of Fiala, who arrived from Nashville in a deal for Mikael Granlund. “They were on display.” Left wing Zach Parise recorded six of his team-high 55 points in his last six contests while veteran center Eric Staal is riding a seven-game point streak (two goals, seven assists).

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (51-12-4): Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is 11-0-2 in his last 13 starts, is expected to get a chance to tie Louis Domingue’s club record for consecutive wins (11) that was set earlier this season. The team’s fourth line of Erne, Cedric Paquette and Mathieu Joseph contributed a pair of goals and five points in Tuesday’s victory to support the best offense in the league (3.84 per game). “It’s really good for us,” Erne told reporters after his first multiple-point effort since Dec. 29. “It’s going to be important come playoff time to get production from all four lines. You can’t rely on the top guys all the time.”

OVERTIME

1. Minnesota D Ryan Suter, who is second in the league in minutes per game (26:54) registered three points and a plus-5 rating in the last three contests.

2. Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman passed Dan Boyle for the most power-play points by a defenseman in club history Tuesday with his 127th on an assist.

3. The Wild entered Wednesday 25th in the league in scoring (2.87) and 14th on the power play (20.7) - two categories the Lightning lead.

PREDICTION: Lightning 4, Wild 1