Minnesota 5, Tampa Bay 4
When: 7:00 PM ET, Thursday, December 5, 2019
Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
Referees:
Gord Dwyer, Chris Rooney
Linesmen:
Scott Driscoll, Brian Murphy
Attendance:
19092
By Field Level Media
Minnesota's Mats Zuccarello notched a goal and two assists as the Wild won their fifth straight game by beating the host Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 on Thursday night.
Carson Soucy and Jason Zucker each contributed a goal and an assist, and Joel Eriksson Ek and Victor Rask also tallied for Minnesota, which has points in 11 straight games (8-0-3).
Jonas Brodin added two helpers, and Alex Stalock made 30 saves to move to 5-0-2 in his last seven decisions.
Minnesota played without Mikko Koivu (lower body) and Jared Spurgeon (broken hand), who were injured on Tuesday.
Erik Cernak recorded a goal and an assist, and Mikhail Sergachev, Victor Hedman and Alex Killorn also scored for the Lightning, who are 3-5-1 against Western Conference foes.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 16 of 21 shots in his 227th career appearance for Tampa Bay, tying him with Ben Bishop for the most in franchise history.
The Lightning opened a wild first period by scoring on their first rush. Brayden Point dropped a pass back to Cernak, who fired home his second goal at the 1:52 mark.
But the visitors scored three times in a span of 1:41, getting goals from Eriksson Ek, Zucker and Soucy for a 3-1 advantage.
Jordan Greenway forced a puck into the Wild's offensive end and fed a pass into the low slot that Eriksson Ek popped in for his second tally at 9:33.
Zucker soon started a give-and-go with Eric Staal, with Zucker finishing it off with his 11th marker. Soucy's long shot worked through traffic for his third goal just 28 seconds later.
But Sergachev cut it to 3-2 when he charged in from the right side and flipped in his fourth goal on the short side of Stalock after the goalie pulled off the near post at 15:57.
Anthony Cirelli appeared to tie it on a goal with 2:12 left in the second, but he barreled into Stalock, with both winding up in the net. The goal was waved off for goaltender interference, and a hooking penalty was assessed to Minnesota.
Hedman netted his 100th career goal on the ensuing power play, but Rask pushed in a rebound 36 seconds later for a 4-3 lead.
Killorn battled in and tied it 4-4 at the 4-minute mark of the third before Zuccarello wristed in his sixth goal eight seconds later for a 5-4 lead.
After a faceoff following an icing infraction, Stalock gloved a high shot from Nikita Kucherov at the buzzer to preserve the win.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Minnesota |
|
Tampa Bay |
|
Mats Zuccarello 3 |
Points |
Erik Cernak 2 |
|
Mats Zuccarello 1 |
Goals |
Erik Cernak 1 |
|
Mats Zuccarello 2 |
Assists |
Erik Cernak 1 |
|
N/A |
Power Play Goals |
Victor Hedman 1 |
|
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
|
Alex Stalock .882 |
Save Percentage |
Andrei Vasilevskiy .762 |
|
Alex Stalock 30 |
Saves |
Andrei Vasilevskiy 16 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
| Minnesota
|
21 |
5 |
0-2 |
3-4 |
10 |
18 |
| Tampa Bay
|
34 |
4 |
1-4 |
2-2 |
6 |
23 |
Upcoming Games
-
Tampa Bay will play their next game at home against San Jose. The Lightning have a W/L % of .385 after a win and .615 after a loss.
-
Minnesota will play their next game on the road against Carolina. The Wild have a W/L % of .462 after a win and .500 after a loss.
For more information, contact us