Game Recap: Lightning 6, Wild 3

TAMPA -- Erik Cernak broke a tie with 2:53 remaining in the third period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning scored the final five goals in a 6-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at Benchmark International Arena on Tuesday.

Darren Raddysh had a goal and two assists, and Jake Guentzel and Brandon Hagel each had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (44-21-5), who are 4-0-1 in their past five games. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves and also had an assist.

"Two good teams, two teams that have aspirations to go well into the spring," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "It's fun when you play teams like that."

Tampa Bay moved within two points of the Buffalo Sabres for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist, and Filip Gustavsson made 19 saves for the Wild (40-20-12), who remained five points behind the Dallas Stars for second place in the Central Division.

"It's unfortunate because I thought we played a decent road game," Minnesota forward Nick Foligno said. "Would've liked to have won the special teams battle. We did a lot of good things, but just an unfortunate bounce (on Cernak’s goal). If we play like that more times than not we're going to give ourselves a chance to win."

Cernak put the Lightning ahead 4-3. After Tampa Bay defenseman Charle-Edouard D'Astous sent the puck down the ice, Gustavsson couldn't control it on the bounce off the end boards, and it trickled through his legs at the left post, allowing Cernak to knock it in from the top of the crease.

"We had a goal that we had to win tonight, so this was huge," Cernak said. "They had a great start with two power-play goals and we knew we had to play better. We started putting pucks on the net, we were pressuring them and making the right plays."

Hagel scored into an empty net to make it 5-3 at 18:42, and Pontus Holmberg was awarded an empty-net goal at 19:36 that made it a 6-3 final when he was taken down by Brock Faber on a breakaway.

Mats Zuccarello gave Minnesota 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 2:28 of the first period when his pass attempt from the left face-off circle deflected in off the skate of Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh on the far side.

Faber extended the lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal at 18:49 when his point shot through traffic deflected off the bottom of Vasilevskiy's glove.

"The [power play] is dangerous and both units scored big goals," Foligno said. "It's fun to see how dangerous and lethal they could be because this time of year you need your special teams to be clicking."

Brayden Point scored on the power play to make it 2-1 at 5:45 of the second period. He took a feed from Hagel and scored from above the left hash marks to the short side.

Tarasenko pushed the lead to 3-1 at 9:51 with a shot from the right circle that deflected off of D'Astous' stick, got past Vasilevskiy and went in at the far post.

Guentzel’s 300th NHL goal cut it to 3-2 at 12:27. He scored from below the right circle while on one knee, converting on the rebound of his own tip attempt.

"It's special. It's pretty cool," Guentzel said of reaching the milestone. "I'm fortunate to play in this league, fortunate to score goals and play with a lot of good players."

Raddysh tied it 3-3 with a power-play goal at 15:19, scoring with a slap shot from the top of the right circle off a pass from Nikita Kucherov.

Minnesota had a goal from Michael McCarron disallowed at 18:42 that would have made it 4-3. The Lightning challenged for goaltender interference, and video review determined Wild forward Bobby Brink caused Raddysh to contact Vasilevskiy prior to the goal.

NOTES: Kucherov (assist) became the eighth player in NHL history with four career 120-point seasons, following Wayne Gretzky (14), Mario Lemieux (eight), Marcel Dionne (six), Phil Esposito (six), Guy Lafleur (five), Jaromir Jagr (four) and Bobby Orr (four). Kucherov, the NHL points leader this season, has 40 goals and 80 assists in 66 games. ... Raddysh scored his 20th goal to tie the Lightning record for most in a season by a defenseman (Dan Boyle, 2006-07; Victor Hedman, 2021-22). ... Hedman (illness) missed a third consecutive game. ... Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov returned to the lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury. He was minus-1 with two shots on goal in 21:31 of ice time. … Minnesota forward Joel Eriksson Ek also returned from a lower-body injury, having missed three games. He finished even and had three shots in 19:52.