Ryan McDonagh summed up this contest in his postgame comments when he said that “we just didn’t have a lot of winning habits in our game.”
The Lightning made a key defensive error early on that put them into a deficit — they left Brock Faber unguarded, and the Wild defeseman blasted a one-timer into the top of the net at 3:46.
In the second period, they took three penalties in under two minutes: a bench minor for too many men and two separate high-sticking infractions. Those penalties gave Minnesota two separate four-on-three power plays, and the Wild converted on the first of those.
Shortly after Nikita Kucherov scored to cut the deficit in half at 15:07, the Lightning allowed a goal to Yakov Trenin at 17:10. Andrei Vasilevskiy attempted but failed to cover a puck in the crease, and Trenin sticked it into an open side of the net.
Up again by two goals, the Wild controlled play for most of the third period. They extended the lead at 6:53 when Quinn Hughes jumped on a puck before it left the Tampa Bay end, sliced to the low slot, and wristed a puck past Vasilevskiy’s stick. Kirill Kaprizov finished the scoring with an empty-netter — in doing so, he became the Wild’s all-time franchise leader with 220 career goals.
But the game was lost for the Lightning during the opening 40 minutes. They fell behind early, took costly penalties, and surrendered a goal shortly after scoring one. As McDonagh stated, those are not winning habits.
Things might have unfolded differently if not for Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson, who denied several Lightning scoring chances throughout the night. He was especially sharp in the first period, when he made 12 saves to help his club preserve its 1-0 lead.
The Lightning have now lost three straight in regulation. They’ll look to snap the skid Thursday in Winnipeg.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game:
- Quinn Hughes — Wild. Goal and assist.
- Filip Gustavsson — Wild. 24 saves.
- Matt Boldy — Wild. Three assists.
