Facing a two-goal deficit before the game’s third minute on Saturday, the Tampa Bay Lightning never stopped pushing.
That effort culminated with a third-period comeback and Nikita Kucherov’s game-winning rip in overtime for a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild at Grand Casino Arena.
The Lightning extended their point streak to six games and improved to 11-3-2 on the season in a clash between two of the NHL’s early season leaders.
“It’s not the way we want to start,” Jake Guentzel said, “but we stayed with it. You can’t get too down, there’s a lot of hockey left. I thought we pushed back, and it’s obviously nice to get the win."
Blake Coleman gave the home team a lead on the game’s first shot on goal, roofing a look from the left circle. The hosts then took advantage of a power play to make it 2-0 before the third minute, as Maxim Shabanov faked a shot near the left post, moved to the slot and slid a backhand shot home.
From that moment on, play favored the Lightning, and the visitors were rewarded with what coach Jon Cooper deemed a ‘character' win.
“There’s a lot of wins in different ways during the year, but this was a bit more of a character win for us. We had that terrible first two minutes, now we’re down 2-0 on mental mistakes, so I was a little frustrated with that,” Cooper said. “But I thought the next 58 (minutes), we gamed it out. We saved the goals for late, but I thought the way we played before that, we were bound to score. I just liked the fact that the guys kept believing…For us to come back like that, it’s a pretty gutty effort.”
Forward Scott Sabourin fought Minnesota’s Marcus Foligno midway through the opening frame, and the game quickly flipped in favor of the Lightning. Multiple members of the Lightning credited the line of Sabourin, Jeff Viel and Conor Geekie for the comeback postgame.
The trio was involved physically throughout the game, evidenced by the Sabourin fight and Geekie’s multiple penalties drawn.
"I thought the Geekie, Sabourin, Viel line kind of changed the game,” Cooper said. “When they started going in that first period, I think our team kind of jumped on board. So, I've gotta give those guys a ton of credit."
Tampa Bay got its game in order quickly after the 2-0 deficit, earning multiple scoring chances on a first period power play and then creating rush looks throughout the second frame. Those initial opportunities didn’t result in goals for Tampa Bay, in part thanks to repeated saves from Wild goalie Calvin Pickard.
Finally near the end of a four-minute power play late in the second period, the Lightning broke through. Guentzel one-timed a shot from near the right halfwall, burying the cross-ice feed from Charle-Edouard D’Astous inside the right goalpost with 3:26 left in the middle frame.
Guentzel’s team-leading ninth goal of the season gave Tampa Bay a power-play goal in eight of the team’s last nine games.
“Shooting, moving the puck, not getting stagnant,” Guentzel said of what worked on the power play. “I thought we kind of did everything, and obviously it’s nice to get a couple on that one.”
Tampa Bay’s turnaround on Saturday was visible, as the visitors held a 32-13 advantage in shot attempts over the second and third periods. Kucherov alone finished with 20 shot attempts to help drive pressure back in the visitors’ favor—his last shot ending as the game-deciding tally.
Even after Shabanov rushed through the neutral zone, cut through a trio of Lightning defenders and fired a shot through the legpads of Lightning goalie Dennis Hildeby to make it 3-1 for Minnesota 6:49 into the third period, the visitors answered again.
Guentzel’s second goal of the night came on a net-front redirection of Brayden Point’s centering pass and made it a one-goal game with 6:16 left in regulation. Tampa Bay then tied the score with their second power-play goal of the night.
John Carlson fed a pass to D’Astous atop the Lightning man advantage, where D’Astous one-timed the puck through a screen and into the net to make it 3-3 with 3:31 remaining.
The goal was D’Astous’ third point of the night, a new career high.
Kucherov finished off the comeback in overtime with the team’s third power-play goal of the night. Guentzel collected the puck at the right wall and found Kucherov atop the zone, where his shot from the top of the circles caromed off the right post and in.
D’Astous co-led the team in scoring alongside Guentzel’s two goals and one assist. Kucherov had two points, and Carlson finished with a pair of assists.
"Definitely not the start we wanted, but the good thing about it was we still had 57 minutes to play and I think we bounced back pretty good after that,” D’Astous said. “After those three minutes, I think we were the best team on the ice. Huge comeback. It was a good game for us."
Tampa Bay went 3-for-6 on the power play, the first time this season they’ve scored multiple goals on the man advantage. The Lightning finished 2-for-3 on the penalty kill and got 19 saves in a winning effort from Hildeby, who’s now 3-0-1 this year.
The Lightning can push their point streak to seven games on Sunday, when they close a Western Conference back-to-back with a 6 p.m. ET matchup against the Winnipeg Jets.
Game notes:
- Brayden Point notched his 700th career point with an assist on the 3-2 goal. He’s the sixth player in franchise history to score 700 points as a Bolt and just the fourth player from the 2014 NHL Draft to hit the mark, joining Leon Draisaitl, David Pastrnak and William Nylander. Point now holds a seven-game point streak.
- Nikita Kucherov tied Martin St. Louis (10) for the third-most overtime goals in team history. He trails only Steven Stamkos (13) and Brayden Point (12).
- Kucherov’s 20 shot attempts on Saturday marked the highest single-game total of any NHL player this season. It ties the franchise record (Kucherov April 9, 2025; Steven Stamkos April 10, 2010) since shot attempts began being tracked in 2009-10.
- Saturday marked the team’s first multi-goal comeback in a third period since Nov. 19, 2024, when they beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in overtime.
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
1. Charle-Edouard D’Astous, TBL (Goal, 2 assists)
2. Jake Guentzel, TBL (2 goals, assist)
3. Nikita Kucherov, TBL (OT GWG, assist)
