Jonas Brodin

The Minnesota Wild roll into Tampa Bay with Kirill Kaprizov centering a loaded top line alongside Ryan Hartman and Mats Zuccarello, while the Lightning counter with Jake Guentzel feeding off Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. Jonas Brodin returns for Minnesota after missing time with a lower-body injury, pairing with Jared Spurgeon to shore up the blue line, and Filip Gustavsson gets the nod in net against Andrei Vasilevskiy's Lightning squad nursing a few key injuries.

The Minnesota Wild keep stumbling at home, and now they face a brutal test without Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek in the lineup against a Stars team that smells weakness. Kaprizov sits day-to-day with his nagging lower-body issue, forcing the rest of the roster to step up amid a wave of injuries that has sidelined top contributors like Jonas Brodin and Matt Boldy.

Mattias Ekholm hides his disappointment over Sweden's Olympic roster snub with the quiet resolve of a vet who's seen it all before. At 35, the Oilers' top-pairing anchor logs 21 minutes a night, anchors the blue line alongside Bouchard, and just notched his first career hat trick while sitting plus-24. Injuries to Brodin and others crack the door for a late call-up, but Edmonton's front office quietly celebrates the rest as they chase that elusive Cup.

Matt Dumba preps for Philly with the Wild eyeing a crucial divisional scrap on 3/12. Coaches drop hints on line rushes that could shake up Minnesota's defensive core against a Flyers team that's been pesky lately. These pregame vibes often signal lineup tweaks that flip standings battles.