John Carlson was the difference-maker for Tampa Bay on Thursday night, scoring twice as the Lightning held off the Minnesota Wild 3-2 and pushed their winning streak to three games.
Anthony Cirelli added the other Tampa Bay goal, and Dennis Hildeby made 34 saves in his Lightning debut. On the other side, Quinn Hughes and Blake Coleman scored for Minnesota, which took its first regulation loss of the season.
Tampa Bay opened the night a little slowly, but once it settled in, the Lightning started to carve up Minnesota with a pair of nearly identical looks. The club used an 11/7 lineup for the third straight game, and after a few choppy shifts that gave the Wild some zone time, the Lightning finally found their rhythm.
The first breakthrough came from the Cirelli line, which worked a strong cycle before Erik Cernak got the puck to the net. Cirelli got a stick on the shot and redirected it past Jesper Wallstedt.
Right after that, Carlson jumped into the action, snapping a wrist shot from the point through traffic and inside the near post. Gage Goncalves provided the screen, and Wallstedt never had a clean look.
Minnesota had a chance to answer on the power play, but Tampa Bay’s new-look units didn’t cash in when Jonas Brodin went off at 12:34. The second unit got the first crack, then the top unit came over about 45 seconds later, and neither group converted.
Hildeby was tested late in the first by Maxim Shabanov and later by looks from Quinn Hughes and Nico Sturm, but Minnesota didn’t get on the board until early in the second. Hughes beat Hildeby from the slot with a wrist shot, helped by a sequence in which J.J. Moser went down after blocking a shot with his ankle and couldn’t fully clear Ryan Hartman from the goalie’s line of sight.
That lead lasted only a short time. After Anthony Cirelli drew a penalty in the offensive zone, the Lightning went right back to work on the power play and made it count.
Nikita Kucherov found Carlson alone in the slot, and Carlson buried the one-timer for his second goal of the game. Tampa Bay’s power play, which had been 0-for-14, suddenly flipped to 1-for-1.
The special-teams battle kept rolling. With Max Crozier in the box, Brandon Hagel nearly turned a Minnesota power play into a short-handed goal the other way, slipping through defenders and getting a shot off before he was taken down. Minnesota generated chances of its own, including a close-range look for Blake Coleman, but Hildeby answered every time.
Then Coleman did strike, snapping a wrist shot over Hildeby’s glove off the rush after Pontus Holmberg’s high-sticking penalty gave Minnesota the extra skater. Nikita Kucherov had briefly headed to the bench after taking a knock during the penalty kill, then returned on his next shift.
There was more special-teams chaos before the period ended when Zach Bogosian tackled Jeff Viel in front of the Minnesota net. Tampa Bay’s best look during that stretch came from Hagel, who nearly picked the far corner, while Hildeby finished the period strong with a save on Hughes after Shabanov sent one wide.
The third period turned into a test of Tampa Bay’s composure. Minnesota pressed early and had several good looks, including a change-up try from Hagel and a short breakaway chance that Wallstedt stopped.
The Lightning then pinned the Wild in after a TV timeout, but Wallstedt answered with back-to-back saves on Crozier and Jake Guentzel. Carlson even had a chance at a hat trick when he walked in alone, but he couldn’t finish.
Hildeby was busy down the stretch as Minnesota threw everything it had at the equalizer. An errant bounce off the dasher threatened to sneak in, and he later turned away Joel Eriksson Ek with a right-pad save.
On the final push, he denied Matt Boldy, and Hagel tied up his man in front to wipe out any rebound chance. Tampa Bay bent, but didn’t break, and that was enough to close out the 3-2 win.
In Other News...
Lightning Just Sent Dominic James On An Important Next Step
The Lightning have sent forward Dominic James to the Syracuse Crunch, giving him the next step in his return from a lost start to the season. James has previous experience with Tampa Bays AHL affiliate, and the move is designed to get him back into game action after a stretch away from competition.
James has not appeared for the Lightning this season after sustaining a hand fracture during offseason training, so the emphasis now shifts from recovery to repetition. Because he is exempt from waivers, Tampa Bay can manage the assignment more easily while the organization works to help him rebuild his form with the Crunch. [Read more 🡒]
Lightning Newcomers Are Already Changing What This Team Can Be
The Lightnings early-season win streak kept rolling with a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild, and it came with a couple of signs that this group may already be evolving in real time. Tampa Bay has been looking for cleaner special-teams production, and the kind of boost it got in this one suggested there may be more balance to come as the roster settles into its rhythm.
John Carlson and Dennis Hildeby both fit into that picture in different ways. Carlson gave the Lightning an important lift on the power play, while Hildeby steadied things in his first game with Tampa Bay with 34 saves, the sort of debut that can buy a team time when the schedule is moving fast. With injuries stacking up around the league and scoring trending upward in the seasons opening stretch, the Lightning are already learning what their newest pieces can add. [Read more 🡒]
Stars Close The Book On A Recent Roster Move With Dumba Done
The recent chapter involving Mathew Dumba has come to an end, with the veteran defensemans time around the league now turning into a career retrospective. Drafted seventh overall by Minnesota in 2012, Dumba logged 13 NHL seasons across Minnesota, Arizona, Tampa Bay, Dallas and Pittsburgh, building a rsum that included 85 goals and 261 points in 748 games. For Lightning fans, he was one of the more notable deadline additions in a stretch where Tampa Bay was still trying to balance present-day depth with longer-term uncertainty on the blue line.
Dumbas path through the league wound through several contenders and rebuilds, and his brief stop in Tampa Bay fit the kind of all-in roster churn that often defines the trade deadline. The move gave the Lightning a veteran option for the stretch run, even if his time in Tampa was part of a much larger career that has now been formally closed by the NHLPA confirmation of his retirement. [Read more 🡒]