ST. PAUL, Minn. (Reuters) — Zach Parise scored his team-leading 17th goal and backup Alex Stalock was solid in net as the Minnesota Wild snapped a four-game losing streak with their 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan Suter each scored second-period goals for the Wild, who showed plenty of fight and spirit to win for just the second time in eight games.
Stalock, meanwhile, stopped 18 of the 20 shots he faced and made some key saves in ending his own 0-3-1 starting slide.
Nikita Kucherov’s second goal of the night and 20th of the season off the power play with 10:28 left in regulation got Tampa Bay within 3-2. Minnesota, though, hung tough and held off the Lightning, who have dropped two of three following their season-high 10-game winning streak.
Minnesota opened the scoring with 5:43 left in the first period by converting the second of its two power-play opportunities in the opening 20 minutes. Parise drove home a back-handed cross-slot pass from Eric Staal for his third goal in two games.
Kucherov, though, would convert from the right circle off some tic-tac-toe passing with Ondrej Palat and Mikhail Sergachev at 7:42 into the second to make it 1-1. However, Eriksson Ek gave Minnesota the lead back with 7:28 left in the second on a perfect feed from Luke Kunin.
The Wild extended their advantage to 3-1 when Suter’s blast deflected in off Tampa Bay’s Ryan McDonagh and past goaltender Curtis McElhinney (20 saves) with 5:17 to go in the second.
Minnesota thought it went up 4-1 a little more than a minute later when rookie defenseman Carson Soucy scored, but a video challenge by the Lightning waived it off as the play was offside.
Minnesota, a winner for just the second time in six home contests, has won eight in a row over Tampa Bay at Saint Paul.
—Field Level Media
