Postgame Hat Trick: Lightning 5, Wild 4 (SO)

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 5-4 shootout loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Sunday night:

1. No quit (yeah, this is a broken record)
It truly is remarkable how many times the Wild find a way to come back from these late game deficits. This club just won't give up, and down a pair late in the game, on the road, against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, Minnesota rallied yet again, securing a point before falling in a shootout for the first time this season.
Trailing 4-2, Wild coach Dean Evason pulled Kaapo Kahkonen with 5:02 left on the clock, and that's when Minnesota went to work.
First, Kevin Fiala banked a shot off a Lightning defender and past Brian Elliott to cut the lead in half, doing so with 2:48 remaining on the clock.
That left plenty of time for the Wild to pull Kahkonen a second time and try for the equalizer.
After getting new life when Ondrej Palat banked a shot from long distance off the post with 1:22 left, Joel Eriksson Ek scored the tying goal with 38 ticks remaining on the clock.

"I think for us, I think we play our best game when we play an aggressive game and everybody is up, everybody is forechecking and everybody is skating," Eriksson Ek said. "I just believe that we're going to get that lead and going to score those goals."
Minnesota had part of a power play in overtime, but couldn't convert, before Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos was the only one to convert in three rounds of the shootout, getting the Lightning the bonus point.
"We went in and talked to them after the game. just said, 'we hate doing what we keep doing but we love what we keep doing,'" Evason said. "We don't want to do it but we love the resilience. We don't quit. What we like is we play hard but we play hard for each other.
"Clearly we want to play with a lead and we want to play right. But we have to learn how to do that and we will. But in the meantime, we were pretty excited about how hard we pushed to come back for each other."

Minnesota now has seven 6-on-5 goals this season, three more than any other team in the league. Only seven of the 32 clubs in the NHL have more than one 6-on-5 tally this season and just five have three or more.
"I thought we had a better 60 than yesterday for sure," said Wild forward Marcus Foligno. "I think our second period we probably could've had a lead. I know we are clawing back in games again. But we really liked the way we played. We are a team that doesn't quit and keeps coming back no matter what the score is. It was a better game for sure by us."

While clawing back every night isn't ideal, it certainly beats the alternative of quietly fading into the evening.
"We don't want to be in that position, but back's against the wall, it was awesome to see the guys fight to the end," Wild defenseman Matt Dumba said. "We've got skill, we see it everyday in practice. We've got guys who are selfless and are going to make plays, and we're all pulling for each other. Just a belief in each other and what we're trying to accomplish."
2. Florida man does good
Brandon Duhaime returned home on Saturday night, playing his hometown Florida Panthers in Sunrise. But he spent plenty of time on the Gulf Coast side of the Sunshine State as well, and had plenty of family and friends in the house on Sunday as well.
That made it extra special when Duhaime let loose on a one-timer from the slot in the second period, rifling a shot past Lightning goaltender Brian Elliott, tying the game at 2-2.

For Duhaime, who had both parents, his sister, aunts, uncles and a host of former teammates and families in the crowd, it was his third goal of the season
Jordie Benn, in the lineup for just the second time this season and first since Oct. 28, set up Duhaime's shot and earned his first point in a Wild sweater.
"It got tossed over and bounced off the wall there and I just looked out of the corner of my eye," Benn said. "I didn't have a shot, all I could do was probably throw it back in the corner. But I just saw our jersey, a Wild jersey, I didn't know who it was, so I just slid it in there and it turned out well."

For Benn, it was an impressive return to the lineup following an injury to Jared Spurgeon Saturday night in Sunrise provided him with an opportunity, one that came about following a morning skate conversation with Evason - ironically - on Saturday.
Evason's message to the veteran: stay patient, because you never know when that chance might be coming. Well, as it turned out, it came sooner than he probably could have expected.
"I mean it's never fun. It's very frustrating, but you have to try and stay positive. My dad never told me to [whine], moan or complain ... but you just gotta work harder and your time is going to come," Benn said. "And tonight, it came and it was nice to contribute and we pulled one big point out of that game."
Spurgeon will have some pictures of his lower-body injury taken on Monday to determine the severity of the injury. Evason said he wasn't sure if the ailment will be a long-term thing, but there is concern simply because of how important Spurgeon is to the club.
"Are we worried? Yeah, for sure. Are we worried that Jared Spurgeon didn't play in this game and moving forward? Sure. We talk a lot. He's everything to our hockey club, right? It's a big, big hole," Evason said. "He drives the offense on the back end. He's so good defensively, killing penalties, power play. But what he does within the room is pretty special. So, are we worried? Sure but hopefully it shakes down not as bad. Hopefully it isn't."
3. Power of the Moose
Foligno hasn't been a fixture on the power play over the course of his NHL career, but maybe he should have been.
Nobody loves traffic in front of an opposing goaltender more than Evason, and you don't have to ask Foligno to provide that more than once. It is what has made him such a threat on the man advantage for the Wild this season.

How good has he been so far? His power-play goal in the first period on Sunday was already his third with the extra man this season, which is a new career best. And the goal came because Foligno planted himself on top of the blue paint in front of Elliott and waited.
Eventually, Dumba gained control of the puck and fired towards the net, where Foligno got the blade of his stick on it, deflecting it over the shoulder of the Bolts goaltender for his seventh goal of the year.

"Just doing my job. Just getting to the net and trying to be a good screen for guys like Dums and [Freddy Gaudreau] or Brodin and [Alex Goligoski], whoever's up top. Just trying to do my job and understand that I've got the offensive ability to make plays down there," Foligno said. "It's nice to be back on the power play. Obviously it can ignite the offensive side of the game. But being the guy in front of the net I've got to track pucks, get loose pucks, things like that, to create those chances. And our power play is doing a good job of that."

Loose pucks

• Dumba's assist on Foligno's first-period goal was his 72nd career power-play point, which moved him into third on the club's all-time list among defensemen
• Alex Goligoski had an assist and has now tallied a point in three-straight games
• Minnesota extended its point streak against Tampa Bay to six games (5-0-1)
• Fiala had a goal and assisted on Eriksson Ek's tying goal
• Kaapo Kahkonen finished with 20 saves on 24 shots for Minnesota
• Anthony Cirelli had a pair of goals for the Lightning
• Elliott made 28 saves

Dan's three stars

1. Anthony Cirelli
   2. Kevin Fiala
   3. Alex Goligoski

Highlights