Wild defeat Lightning to extend home point streak to eight

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Zach Parise scored his first goal of the season to help the Minnesota Wild to a 5-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.
Parise had one assist in his first seven games after missing the first 39 following back surgery.

"It was kind of a lucky goal], I guess," Parise said. "As a line, we've been doing some good things. Individually, I thought I was doing some good things. It's always nice to get rewarded."
***[WATCH: [All Lightning vs. Wild highlights]*
Jared Spurgeon, Nate Prosser, Marcus Foligno and Jason Zucker scored for the Wild (25-17-5), who are 7-2-2 in their past 11 games and 6-0-2 in their past eight at home.
Brayden Point scored two goals for the Lightning (31-12-3), who lost a season-high third straight game.
"Teams can win games and go on winning streaks where they're not playing the right way and eventually is catches up to them," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "You can lose games where guys are working hard. We're just out of sync right now, and it's not lack of effort. I think frustration is mounting a little bit, and mentally we've got to get past that and get back to what got us here."
Spurgeon scored at 10:07 of the first period, two seconds into a Wild power play off an Eric Staal face-off win, to make it 1-0.
Parise redirected defenseman Ryan Suter's shot at 17:24 for a 2-0 lead. Cooper challenged for goaltender interference by Parise, but the goal was upheld after video review.

The Lightning have not scored in the first period during their losing streak.
"[The problem is] not only not scoring, but getting scored on," Point said. "I think we're coming ready to play and we're trying, it's just not going our way at the start of the game. Hopefully, it turns around."
Prosser scored to give the Wild a 3-0 lead at 7:11 of the second, beating goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to the short side from the right face-off circle off a pass from Joel Eriksson Ek from behind the net.
Point beat goalie Devan Dubnyk from the high slot at 15:35 to make it 3-1.
Foligno scored for the first time since Nov. 2 to give Minnesota a 4-1 lead at 3:10 of the third period.

Point scored his second of the night at 6:37 on a 5-on-3 power play to make it 4-2. Wild defensemen Gustav Oloffson (cross checking) and Matt Dumba (roughing) each was called for a penalty at 5:15.
Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau challenged for goaltender interference by Ryan Callahan, but the goal was upheld after video review.
Zucker scored into an empty net with 58 seconds remaining to make it 5-2.
Dubnyk made 21 saves, and Vasilevskiy made 30 for Tampa Bay, which has allowed 14 goals in its past three games and four or more in five of its past seven.
"We're out of sync," Cooper said. "It's unreal. The guys didn't forget how to play hockey in the last week and a half [during the five-day break]. It's just weird. We're just out of sync. When one guy zigs, the other guy zags."

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Goal of the game

Parise's goal at 17:24 of the first period.

Save of the game

Dubnyk stopping Nikita Kucherov at 6:16 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Spurgeon's goal at 10:07 of the first period.

They said it

"I've got to coach 'em up. That's it. We didn't get where we are today by fluke. You don't forget how to play the game in a week or two weeks. But we've got better than this. We know that. Now we just need to dig our heels in and get ready for [the] Chicago [Blackhawks]." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper
"Every time we look, a Central [Division] team is winning. It's pretty hard when you come to the game and three of the Central teams have already won; it's pretty hard not to put your best foot forward knowing this is going to be pretty crazy down the stretch." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Need to know

The Lightning began a season-high eight-game road trip. ... Kucherov, the NHL scoring leader (61 points), was held without a point for the second time in three games. He had three shots on goal in 23:36. ... Forward Kyle Rau had one assist, two shots on goal and a plus-1 rating in 6:56 in his Wild debut. He signed with Minnesota on July 1 after playing 33 games for the Florida Panthers the past two seasons. ... Matt Cullen had an assist on Foligno's goal for his 700th NHL point. ... Staal had two assists and leads the Wild with 40 points (19 goals, 21 assists).

What's next

Lightning:At the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday (8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, WGN, NHL.TV)
Wild:Host the Ottawa Senators on Monday (8 p.m. ET; RDS, FS-N, TSN5, FS-N, NHL.TV)