A late goal by the NHL’s leading scorer spelled out a 5-3 loss for the Tampa Bay Lightning in Friday’s game against the Minnesota Wild.
The loss at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul ended a three-game winning streak for the Lightning despite an effort that saw momentum tilt toward both teams in various parts of the contest.
Tampa Bay played a sound game—the Lightning scored two power-play goals and outshot the Wild 30-22—but a pair of goals by Kirill Kaprizov in the game’s final six minutes proved to be enough for the Wild.
The Lightning are now 7-4-0 and visit the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.
Coach Jon Cooper said there are no moral victories in the NHL, but he saw a lot of positives for his team against the Wild. Minnesota continues to sit near the top of the NHL standings and is now 7-1-2 on the year.
“I guess after the fact you look at it, do I think that we deserved some points out of this game? I do,” Cooper said. “I thought we deserved points out of the first time we played them. They ended up getting four, we get zero. You look at it and there were so many good things that happened on our side for the game, but timing is everything. (It’s a) 2-2 game with five minutes left and we give one up. It’s tough.”
A blazing start for the Lightning saw the visitors outshoot Minnesota 12-2 in the opening minutes of the game, but neither bench produced a goal until the closing seconds of the first period.
Tampa Bay forward Brayden Point opened the scoring on the power play, corralling a rebound in front of Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson after a Victor Hedman point shot and pushing the puck past the sprawling goaltender with 45 seconds left in the first period.
he home team tied the game quickly in the second period when Kaprizov sped through the offensive zone, cutting through the left faceoff circle before feeding Joel Eriksson Ek for a one-timer goal from the right circle.
The Wild outshot Tampa Bay 16-15 across the last two periods despite the Lightning holding a 15-6 advantage after one period.
“It’s a close checking game, especially when you play the Wild,” Lightning forward Mitchell Chaffee said. “They make it tough. They kind of make you earn everything, and I thought tonight that we had spurts that we played really well and other times where we kind of broke down defensively, and that cost us.”
Minnesota claimed its first lead of the game on a deep shot from defenseman Brock Faber 2:41 into the third period, but the Lightning had a response on the man advantage.
Forward Jake Guentzel scored his fifth goal in 11 games with the Lightning, tying the game at 6:23 of the third period. Guentzel evened the score at 2 by taking a feed from Hedman at the left faceoff circle, sending a shot under the leg pad of Gustavsson in his home state.
Nikita Kucherov had the second assist on the play for his team-leading 18th point of the season. Hedman led the Lightning with two assists.
Both teams traded chances in the opening minutes of the third period, but Kaprizov was the first player to break the tie when he found a bouncing puck near the net to reclaim the Minnesota lead with 5:23 left in the game.
A Matt Boldy empty-net goal made it 4-2 Minnesota, and a Nick Paul goal with 2:26 remaining again cut the deficit to one before Kaprizov capped a three-point night with a second empty-net goal in the final minute. Kaprizov leads the NHL with 21 points in 10 games.
“We started off good, just the second wasn't good enough and then the third we just came out too late. There’s a lot of things to learn from this game, especially just closing games out,” Paul said.
The Wild earned a season sweep over the Lightning after winning game one by a 4-2 score on Oct. 24 at AMALIE Arena.
Ahead of another tough Western Conference matchup in Winnipeg, the Lightning know they need a more complete 60-minute effort.
“I think we shot ourselves in the foot a few times, and in this league you can't do that,” Chaffee said. “Every little goal matters, every little play matters. It was a tough one today.”
Cooper shared that sentiment.
“We had enough looks to score. In the end we gave up three,” the coach said, “and that was one too many.”
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
1. Kirill Kaprizov, MIN (2 goals, 1 assist)
2. Victor Hedman (2 assists)
3. Mats Zuccarello, MIN (2 assists)
