The Tampa Bay Lightning became the first team in the NHL to take a regulation lead over the Minnesota Wild this season, but the latter left AMALIE Arena with a 4-2 win on Thursday.
The Wild used a power-play goal in the opening minutes of the third period to take the lead for good on a night the Lightning took four penalties to Minnesota’s one.
“The problem is we took four penalties again, and they took one,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “So now you’re just stressing the game out. .. Basically four power-plays, they might have had two scoring chances. That was it. We did a great job on the PK. In the end though we didn’t get it done, and that’s because we put stress on ourself by compounding things by taking penalties.”
The Lightning turned a 1-0 deficit after one period into a 2-1 lead with two consecutive goals. Brandon Hagel tied the game 1-1 at 8:55 of the second period, converting a shorthanded rush from the right hashmark after a setup from Anthony Cirelli.