Nikita Kucherov turned a wild Saturday night in Saint Paul into a Tampa Bay win.
One week after requesting a trade, Kucherov scored the power-play goal 3:23 into overtime to lift the Lightning to a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild. The finish capped a comeback from two goals down in the final six minutes of regulation and gave Tampa Bay its third straight win.
Kucherov also picked up an assist, and his recent stretch has been loud: since the trade request became public, he has a goal and five assists in four games. In overtime, he settled the puck between the circles and buried the shot after a long sequence in the Minnesota zone.
Jake Guentzel was just as central to the rally, finishing with two goals and an assist. Charle-Edouard D'Astous added a goal and two assists, while Brayden Point and John Carlson each had two assists. Dennis Hildeby made 19 saves on 22 shots for Tampa Bay.
Minnesota still came away with a point for the eighth straight game, moving to 6-0-2, behind two goals from Maxim Shabanov and one from Blake Coleman. Calvin Pickard gave up four goals on 34 shots.
The Wild came out flying and needed only 55 seconds to open the scoring. Coleman took a long pass from Olli Maatta, moved into the offensive zone and snapped a wrist shot over Hildeby’s glove side.
Just two minutes later, Minnesota doubled the lead on the power play. Shabanov found a loose puck near the crease, turned to his backhand and pushed it across the line.
Tampa Bay started to chip away late in the second period. With 3:26 left, D'Astous fed Guentzel for a one-timer from the right circle on the power play to make it 2-1.
Shabanov answered again early in the third, stretching the Wild lead to 3-1 with 13:11 remaining. He carried the puck the length of the ice, slipped between two Lightning defenders and beat Hildeby with a wrist shot. The goal gave him eight on the season and marked the second multi-goal game of his career, matching his two-goal outing on Nov. 20, 2025, against the Detroit Red Wings.
Guentzel then sparked the comeback with his second of the night, tipping in a goal with 6:16 left to cut it to 3-2. It was his team-leading 10th goal of the season.
Tampa Bay drew even again with 3:31 remaining in regulation when D'Astous scored on the power play, hammering a slap shot through traffic in front to make it 3-3 before Kucherov finished it off in overtime.
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Bill Guerin Faces A Wild Problem He Cant Ignore With Quinn Hughes
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Hughes has sounded upbeat about the possibility of getting a deal done, but optimism alone does not solve the bigger question facing the Wild. Guerin has to decide whether Hughes fits into the long-term picture or whether the organization needs to protect itself by considering a trade path, and the longer this drags on, the more the pressure builds around a player Minnesota clearly values. [Read more 🡒]