Hedman has 4 points, Lightning defeat Wild for 4th straight win

TAMPA -- Victor Hedman had a goal and three assists for the Tampa Bay Lightning in their fourth straight win, 7-3 against the Minnesota Wild at Amalie Arena on Thursday.

Anthony Cirelli had two goals and an assist, and Brayden Point had a goal and two assists for the Lightning (23-17-5), who begin a three-game road trip Saturday at the Buffalo Sabres. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves.

"It's a tough league to win in, and you don't take them for granted," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "But at some point, we have to dig our heels in here and win some games. Our game is getting more consistent on the good side of things, so hopefully we can keep that up on what's going to be a big road trip for us."

Nikita Kucherov had three assists, including the 500th of his career. He leads the NHL with 75 points (28 goals, 47 assists).

"He's hitting [the milestones] so quick and having another unbelievable year for us," Point said. "It's not surprising that he has 500 assists already with the way he sees the ice and the way he can make plays."

Jake Middleton had a goal and two assists for the Wild (18-21-5), who have lost five of their past six games (1-4-1). Filip Gustavsson made 31 saves.

"The game's at 4-3 and when you give a top power-play unit that many opportunities with the types of penalties we took in the situations we took, that's the difference in the game,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “It's about the management and understanding time and score and the situations, and tonight when it was in the balance down by one, down by two, we shot ourselves in the foot."

Joel Eriksson Ek gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 5:17 of the first period with a wrist shot from the left circle, but Hedman tied it 1-1 at 6:12 with a one-timer from the point off a pass from Point.

Cirelli put the Lightning ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal 16 seconds into the second period. It was his first goal in 15 games (Dec. 14).

Waltteri Merela made it 3-1 at 3:20 with his first NHL goal in his 15th game, a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Conor Sheary.

"It's about time; that was the first thought," said Merela, a 25-year-old forward playing his first season in North America. "Obviously, it's pretty cool. Everyone will remember the first goal. Some of the guys in there will have 500 of them and won't remember them all, but I think they remember the first one. It's pretty special."

Marco Rossi cut it to 3-2 at 10:52 when he stuffed the puck in from close range, but Point made it 4-2 at 12:41 on his own rebound from the low slot.

"It's good to see us find some confidence and get on a little win streak here," Point said. "Hopefully we can keep it going. We know we need to have a good second half to compete for a playoff spot."

Middleton cut it to 4-3 at 19:45 with a chip-in off a pass from Rossi.

"That's how you've got to play -- as a five-man unit, right?" Middleton said. "We've stressed that for a while, and [the defense] just tried to get ourselves in the mix tonight as much as we could."

Steven Stamkos extended Tampa Bay’s lead to 5-3 on a power play at 1:09 of the third period, a one-timer off a pass from Kucherov that deflected off Brock Faber's shoulder.

Michael Eyssimont scored a power-play goal at 6:59 to make it 6-3, and Cirelli scored again at 17:52 for the 7-3 final.

"It wouldn’t have mattered if we scored six today," Gustavsson said. "We would have still lost. It’s two points, and that’s what it is. After the game is done, you can’t mourn it."

NOTES: Kucherov reached 500 assists in 688 games, the fastest to do so in Lightning history ahead of Martin St. Louis (842 games). ... It was Hedman’s seventh career four-point game, tied with Roman Josi (Nashville Predators) for second among active defensemen; Erik Karlsson (Pittsburgh Penguins) has 10. ... With his 205th power-play goal, Stamkos tied Joe Sakic for fifth among players with a single franchise; Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals) leads with 302. … It was Middleton’s second three-point game of the season (Oct. 24 against the Edmonton Oilers). ... Minnesota forward Kirill Kaprizov had an assist and was plus-3 in 21:51 of ice time. … The Wild announced before the game that defenseman Jared Spurgeon, their captain, will miss the rest of the season because of injuries to his back and left hip.