The Lightning spent most of Saturday night chasing the game in St. Paul, then turned the final minutes into a comeback they badly needed.
Tampa Bay fell behind by two goals deep in the third period against a Wild team with the best record in the Western Conference, but the Lightning found a way to drag the game into overtime and then finish it off 4-3. Charle-Edouard D’Astous cut the deficit with a seeing-eye 6-on-4 goal at 3:31 of the third, and Jake Guentzel later tied it with 6:16 remaining before Nikita Kucherov ended it in overtime.
Kucherov’s winner came at 1:39 of the five-minute 5-on-5 extra period. He had already piled up 20 shot attempts on the night, and on the power play he skated in from the high slot and beat Wild goaltender Calvin Pickard with a wrister for his ninth shot on goal. The goal followed a penalty Kucherov drew on Minnesota’s Matt Boldy after the Lightning had barely touched the puck in overtime.
The finish was a sharp reversal for a team that has had a brutal time at Grand Casino Arena. The Lightning came in with only one win in their previous 13 games there dating to the 2011-12 season, going 1-10-2 over that stretch.
Guentzel’s second goal of the night was especially notable because he grew up in the St. Paul suburb of Woodberry. He scored from below the right circle after taking a centering feed from Brayden Point.
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper pulled Dennis Hildeby with 3:39 left in regulation during the closing moments of a power play. Zemgus Girgensons won the offensive-zone draw and headed to the net, creating the traffic that helped D’Astous score from the center point.
The win pushed the Lightning to 11-3-2 for 24 points. It was their third straight victory and extended their point streak to seven games as they head into the back end of a back-to-back Sunday in Winnipeg.
In Other News...
Lightning Face A Brutal Road Test In Minnesota
The next stop on Tampa Bays trip brings a familiar kind of challenge, one that has not tended to go well for the Lightning in St. Paul. Minnesota has been a difficult building for them for years, and this matchup arrives with the Wild playing some of their best hockey at home while leaning on a defense that has made life hard on visiting teams. For Tampa Bay, it is another chance to see whether its top-end talent can overcome the kind of road environment that has tripped it up before.
The Lightning also come in needing a steadier effort away from home, where results have been harder to come by this season. Special teams could loom large, with both clubs bringing strong pieces to the ice and key players on each side capable of swinging the game in a hurry. For Tampa Bay, the bigger question is whether it can match Minnesotas pace and structure long enough to leave with points from a rink that has rarely been kind to it. [Read more 🡒]
Jakob Pelletier Keeps Delivering Despite Another Crunch Letdown
The Syracuse Crunch had another night where the result did not match the effort, falling 3-2 to the Hartford Wolf Pack in overtime at the Upstate Medical University Arena. Jakob Pelletier kept his recent surge rolling with a goal, and Lucas Mercuri added the other Syracuse tally, while Olivier Rodrigue turned aside 22 of 25 shots in a game that stayed tight from start to finish.
For the Lightning organization, Pelletiers production has become one of the more encouraging developments in Syracuse, even if the Crunch are still looking for the kind of finish that turns close games into points. Hartfords Callum Tung made 24 saves to get the win, leaving Syracuse with another frustrating one-goal loss and more proof that the offensive pieces are there, even if the payoff keeps slipping away late. [Read more 🡒]
Lightning Prospects Stay Productive In Another Frustrating Crunch Overtime Loss
The Crunch came away with another point but not the result they wanted in a 3-2 overtime loss to Hartford, a game that fit the frustrating early-season pattern for Syracuse. Olivier Rodrigue made 22 saves, and neither side found anything on the power play, leaving the Lightnings AHL affiliate to settle for a split of the nights momentum instead of a win.
Jakob Pelletier continued to give Syracuse a needed offensive jolt, scoring again as the Crunch tried to keep pace in a tight game that went beyond regulation. Even with the production up front, Syracuse slipped to 5-5-2-0 and now has two overtime losses this season, a reminder that the margins have been thin when the Crunch have been close to finishing off games. [Read more 🡒]