Two of the NHL’s best teams this season each put the ‘power’ in ‘power play’ on Tuesday night, but in the end it was the Tampa Bay Lightning who overpowered the Minnesota Wild with a 6-3 win.
Tampa Bay’s victory was the result of a late goal for the home team at Benchmark International Arena after the Lightning overcame a pair of two-goal deficits to improve to 44-21-5 this season.
The visiting Wild took advantage of an early power-play opportunity, taking a 1-0 lead when a Mats Zuccarello pass in the left faceoff circle bounced into the net off a Tampa Bay skate 2:28 into the game.
Minnesota doubled its lead on another power-play chance, this one a point shot from defenseman Brock Faber with 1:11 left in the opening frame.
After fights from Scott Sabourin and Corey Perry in the first period, Tampa Bay earned some momentum.
“Obviously not a great start,” defenseman Erik Cernak said. “They scored two power-play goals. We knew we had to play better. Everybody believed in each other, and since then we started playing our game. We were putting pucks on the net, were pressuring them and making the right plays. Lately I think we're doing a good job overall, and we just have to stick with it and keep doing it.”
The Lightning clawed back with a powerful second period, cutting the deficit to one with a power-play marker of their own.
Brayden Point accepted a pass from Brandon Hagel in the high slot and wasted no time in firing his 17th goal of the season into the top left corner of the net, beating Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson 5:45 into the period.
Despite the Lightning killing a 5-on-3 power play for Minnesota, the visitors got another bounce to reclaim a two-goal lead when Vladimir Tarasenko’s shot bounced off a Tampa Bay stick and changed directions into the net midway through the period.
The Lightning answered with Jake Guentzel’s 300th career goal with 7:33 left in the second period. Guentzel potted a rebound chance in front of the net from his knees after a Darren Raddysh shot from the point.
“I liked the way we were playing, and then..we're down 5-on-3 for a prolonged time,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “To get out of that and then for them to score after it was done, we were starting to feel good about ourselves that whole game just as it kept going on. But the Guentz goal, that was a big one to give us a little bit more hope.”
Guentzel called his 300th NHL goal special.
“I had my parents here, and to do it against your hometown team, I think it's pretty cool,” he said. “I had a lot of people watching. I’m fortunate to play in this league, fortunate to score goals, and I've played with a lot of good players along the way, so a lot of credit to those guys.”
Another milestone was reached on Tampa Bay’s tying goal with just 4:31 left in the second, this one for Darren Raddysh—a Marcus Johansson holding penalty ended with Raddysh’s power-play blast into the top right corner of the net, his 20th goal of the season to tie the score 3-3.
Raddysh’s goal tied him for the best goalscoring season by a defenseman in team history, joining Victor Hedman (2021-22) and Dan Boyle (2006-07).
Raddysh led Tampa Bay with a three-point night on Tuesday.
“It's special. I’m playing with a lot of good guys and it makes my job pretty easy,” Raddysh said. “So I’m happy to get that, but more happy that we got the win.”
Cernak then won the game, scoring the 4-3 goal with help from a crazy bounce that went in favor of Tampa Bay—Gustavsson knelt down to corral a loose puck off the end boards, and it slipped through his legs to an open Cernak in the slot.
Cernak buried the shot with 2:53 remaining for the home team’s first lead despite the goal needing to be reviewed after Minnesota broke out of the zone after the puck bounced off the in-net camera and quickly exited the cage.
“That was definitely kind of a weird sequence there,” Cernak said. “I knew I scored, I was celebrating. Just nobody believed me. I just kept playing, they had a 3-on-1 but I kind of knew that was in. It was great. Got a goal, we got a win tonight. That’s huge for us.”
Brandon Hagel added an empty-net goal on the power play before Pontus Holmberg was awarded an empty-net goal after being dragged down on an open look for the 6-3 final score.
Raddysh led the Lightning with a goal and two assists, while Hagel and Guentzel each finished with a goal and one assist. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves in the win while also assisting on the Cernak game-winner.
The Lightning have now won four of their last five games, earning standings points in all five of those contests. Tampa Bay will aim to keep the points coming when they host the Seattle Kraken at 7 p.m. this Thursday.
“Every point is critical at this time of the year,” Guentzel said. “It seems like everyone's winning every night, and we’ve just got to make sure we're taking care of our own business.”
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Erik Cernak, TBL (Game-winning goal)
- Darren Raddysh, TBL (Goal, 2 assists)
- Jake Guentzel, TBL (Goal, assist)
