Cirelli scores twice for Lightning in shootout victory against Wild

TAMPA --Anthony Cirelli scored two goals for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 5-4 shootout win against the Minnesota Wild at Amalie Arena on Sunday.

Pat Maroon and Alex Barre-Boulet scored, and Brian Elliott made 28 saves for the Lightning (10-4-3), who are 8-1-2 in the past 11 games. Steven Stamkos scored the only goal in the shootout.
"I think as a collective group everyone's got to kind of step up and just have that next-man-up mentality," Cirelli said. "And I think tonight the guys did a good job of battling for 60 minutes."
Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist, Alex Goligoski had two assists, and Kaapo Kahkonen made 20 saves for the Wild (11-6-1), who rallied from two goals down late in the third period to tie it.
"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," Minnesota coach Dean 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."
With the Wild playing with an extra attacker after Kahkonen was pulled, Fiala cut it to 4-3 at 17:12 with a slap shot that deflected off the stick of Lightning forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
Joel Eriksson Ek then tied it 4-4 with 39 seconds remaining, jamming in a rebound in the crease.

It was the seventh goal Minnesota has scored at 6-on-5 this season.
"It shows maybe we're in good shape," Eriksson Ek said. "No, we believe in it and we work. We talk about it and so far it's been good, and hopefully we can keep it up if needed."
Lightning forward Ondrej Palat had shot at an empty net that hit the post 38 seconds before the tying goal.
"To give up the two 6-on-5 goals ... poor 'Pally,' I think everybody in the building when that hit the post went 'Oh, no!'," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Breaks went the other team's way in the last couple of minutes. Good for them, they earned them, but we had a chance to put that away. In saying that, the guys pulled it out."
Cirelli gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 1:06 of the first period on a tip of a Victor Hedman pass on a power play.
Maroon made it 2-0 at 11:14 with a backhand flip from above the goal line. The play was initially called no goal but was overturned following a video review.

Marcus Foligno cut it to 2-1 at 14:40 when he redirected a shot from Matt Dumba.
"We've got to understand that we've got to get to our game right away," Foligno said. "I liked the effort again tonight. We pushed and kept clawing back. And like I said, could've easily had a lead in the second period."
Brandon Duhaime tied it 2-2 at 3:56 of the second period with a slap shot from above the hash marks that beat Elliott glove side.
Cirelli's second goal put the Lightning ahead 3-2 at 17:07 when he pushed in a rebound of his own shot from close range.
"Just trying to get to the net," Cirelli said. "Trying to stick to my game. [Hedman] makes a great play with that great shot on the first one and [Cal] Foote and [Alex Killorn] made a great play on the second one."

Barre-Boulet extended the lead to 4-2 at 9:19 of the third period from the low slot. He was recalled from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Sunday to replace Brayden Point, who is out indefinitely, in the lineup.
"I think he had a 5 a.m. flight," Killorn said. "Long travel day, couple connections ... so I was really happy he scored. He was a huge boost. When you go two goals up it helps out."
NOTES: Eriksson Ek has scored five points (three goals, two assists) during a four-game point streak. … Goligoski was hit below the knee with a puck in overtime. Evason did not have an update on his status. Goligoski has six points (one goal, five assists) in a three-game point streak. … Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov has scored seven points (two goals, five assists) in a three-game point streak. … Defenseman Jordie Benn had an assist, his first point with Minnesota after signing a one-year contract Aug. 27. … Hedman has scored seven goals (two goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak. ... Maroon has scored in consecutive games. … Killorn has seven assists in his past seven games. … Each team was playing the second of a back to back. Minnesota lost at the Florida Panthers 5-4, and Tampa Bay lost to the Devils 5-3 on Saturday.