Nikita Kucherov scored on the power play at 3:23 of overtime to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-3 comeback victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday at Grand Casino Arena.
Minnesota grabbed an early advantage in the first period. Blake Coleman opened the scoring just 55 seconds into the game with a wrist shot off assists from Olli Maatta and Quinn Hughes. Maxim Shabanov made it 2-0 at 2:58, converting on the power play with a backhand shot setup by Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov. Jake Guentzel brought Tampa Bay back within one late in the second period, scoring on a slap shot during a power play at 16:34 with assists from Charle-Edouard D'Astous and Kucherov.
Shabanov restored Minnesota's two-goal cushion at 6:49 of the third period with an unassisted wrist shot. Tampa Bay answered with two straight goals to force overtime. Guentzel scored his second of the night at 13:44 on a tip-in assisted by Brayden Point and D'Astous. D'Astous then tied the game 3-3 at 16:29 with a power-play slap shot set up by John Carlson and Point. In overtime, Kucherov completed the rally with his game-winning wrist shot on the man advantage, assisted by Guentzel and Carlson.
Dennis Hildeby stopped 19 of 22 shots to earn the victory for the Lightning. Calvin Pickard took the overtime loss for the Wild after stopping 30 of 34 shots as Tampa Bay held a 34-22 advantage in shots on goal. Tampa Bay finished 3-for-6 on the power play, while Minnesota converted 1 of 3 opportunities.
The victory pushed Tampa Bay's regular-season record to 11-3-2 and marked their third consecutive win. Minnesota moved to 12-3-4 on the season. The Lightning also completed a two-game regular-season sweep over the Wild, having previously defeated them 3-2 on Oct. 8.
Tampa Bay visits the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday, while Minnesota travels to face the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.
