John Carlson scored his first two goals with Tampa Bay, Nikita Kucherov posted two assists and the Lightning finished a sweep of their three-game homestand by edging the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Thursday night.
Anthony Cirelli added a marker as the home side won in the debut of new backup goaltender Dennis Hildeby, who made 34 saves and was strong in the final two minutes as the Wild pressed for the tying tally.
Quinn Hughes notched a goal and an assist and Blake Coleman scored on the power play for Minnesota, which failed to earn a point for the first time in four outings this season (2-1-1). Jesper Wallstedt stopped 32 shots in his fourth straight start.
Minnesota winger Nick Foligno missed the match after he sustained an upper-body injury in the Wild’s 3-2 overtime loss against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. Defenseman Olli Maatta was a late scratch with a lower-body injury.
On their first shot on goal 5:26 into the game, the Lightning scored as Cirelli tipped in a shot from distance by Erik Cernak for his first goal of the campaign. Just 36 seconds later, Carlson netted his first since joining the club in the offseason from the Anaheim Ducks.
The defenseman’s tally was the club’s 10th goal of the season coming from a 10th different player.
Hildeby was tested late in the period when Hughes put a deep shot on goal and Nico Sturm had a rebound chance, but the former Toronto Maple Leafs backup kept it 2-0 through 20 minutes.
Just 2:32 into the second period, Hughes gathered a free puck in the offensive end, wheeled around Jake Guentzel parallel to the blue line and ripped in a goal from over 50 feet out, extending his streak of at least one point in every match this season.
On its 15th power play of the season, Tampa Bay finally tallied for the first time when Carlson one-timed a pass from Kucherov, finding the net to reestablish its two-goal advantage at the 4:55 mark of the second.
Coleman cut it to a one-goal deficit on the Wild’s second power play by firing in his second marker of the season from the left dot high over Hildeby’s glove.
Minnesota made a strong push in the first eight minutes of the third as the match went five minutes without a whistle, but Hildeby denied Joel Eriksson Ek one-on-one with just over two minutes left to preserve the win.
–Field Level Media
