Matt Boldy netted the go-ahead goal on a third-period power play and the visiting Minnesota Wild topped the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Thursday night.
Boldy, who also had an assist, broke a 2-all tie by taking a pass from Mats Zuccarello and drilling his fourth goal from the right circle just 54 seconds into the frame.
Appearing in his second game this season, Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 23 shots as the Wild won their fourth straight and swept both Florida clubs. Minnesota has earned at least a point in every game this season (5-0-2).
Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov had a three-point night with two goals, including an empty-netter with 34 seconds left to ice the win.
Joel Eriksson Ek also hit the net for the Wild, who are 4-0-0 against Eastern Conference teams. Marco Rossi had an assist to stretch his point streak to six games.
After recording a natural hat trick Tuesday in an 8-5 win over the New Jersey Devils, the Lightning’s Brandon Hagel scored short-handed in his 300th NHL game. Nikita Kucherov netted his team-leading eighth goal and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 14 saves.
Facing Tampa Bay for the first of two meetings over nine days, Minnesota did what it has done through its six previous games — score first.
Rossi sent a perfect cross-ice feed over to Kaprizov in the right circle, and Kaprizov one-timed his third marker at 6:23. Jonas Brodin notched the secondary assist.
The Wild became the first club since the 2015-16 Nashville Predators to score first in seven straight matches to start a season.
In the second period, Tampa Bay had its first power play when Marcus Foligno went off for holding, but Lightning captain Victor Hedman negated that late in the man advantage by holding Jakub Lauko.
However, Hagel evened the contest with a short-handed marker at 8:55 when Anthony Cirelli, who had a career-high four assists Tuesday against New Jersey, slipped him a pass in front of Fleury for his sixth goal.
Red-hot Kucherov put Minnesota behind for the first time at 11:31 — ending the Wild’s streak of not trailing in regulation at 391:31 — but Eriksson Ek popped in his third from the low slot off a feed down low from former Lightning defenseman Zach Bogosian for the second tie at 18:22 of the second.
–Field Level Media
