*Photo from CBS Minnesota*
The Minnesota Wild have established themselves as a high scoring team to begin the season. That did not change one bit last night. Ryan Hartman scored, Nick Bjugstad scored, and the Wild defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Sunday night.
With the win, the Wild have won 3 straight games and 4 out of their last 6, improving their record to 14-6-1, first place in the Central Division. Hartman's goal gave him 12 for the season, and he is on a 3 game goal streak, and has 13 points in his last 14 games. The Wild also put up another 4 goal game, as they have the most goals scored in the league since November 2.
Hartman said of his goal scoring this season that "I don't think I've had a goal with time and space, like get a full shot off. I've had to be quick or something with a rebound. I'm trying to think about some of them, but it's not a bad problem to have, I guess. But, yeah, just trying to play the game the right way and when you get chances, try to be opportunistic with them."
Starting off the scoring was Bjugstad, scoring his 3rd goal of the season 11:03 into the game, giving the Wild a 1-0 lead to start. 48 seconds later and Corey Perry had the answer for the Lightning, tying the game 1-1 on his second goal of the season. Victor Rask then gave the Wild a 2-1 lead 16:28 into the period, scoring his 3rd goal this season.
The only goal of the second period came 9:24 in, when Alex Killorn tied the game for the Lightning. The Wild took the lead back 9:15 into the 3rd period, when Hartman provided the eventual game winning goal. Marcus Foligno then scored on an empty net with 17 seconds left, giving the Wild the 4-2 win.
Minnesota head coach Dean Evason said of the game that "The commitment level was really high tonight and obviously when you're playing against the Stanley Cup champions, our guys are really dialed in. We made a couple turnovers but certainly in those last few minutes with an empty net, they were real committed. We had great blocks. Good sticks. Yeah, we were really happy."
Cam Talbot was the winning goalie for the Wild, putting together a solid outing to stifle the back to back champions. Talbot turned aside 28 of the 30 shots he saw, posting a .933 save percentage to get the win. Talbot's record increases to a 12-5-0 mark in 17 starts this season.
On the other side of the ice, it was Andrei Vasilevskiy in goal for the Lightning once again, and he got the loss this time around. Vasilevskiy saved 33 of the 36 shots on goal the Wild sent his way, posting a .917 save percentage. In 17 starts this season, Vasilevskiy has a 10-4-3 record so far.
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said of their game that "We got our looks, and we didn't capitalize. Just made colossal error in the D-zone on that third goal. When you do that against a good team, they make you pay. We had our chance, we didn't make them pay, hence we had nothing on them."
Both teams get back in action on Tuesday night, with Vasilevskiy back in net for the Lightning as they travel to face the St.Louis Blues. The Wild remain at home as they host the Arizona Coyotes, with Talbot to start.
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