Red Hot Ryan Hartman Strikes While the Wild Holds Off the Lightning

A week ago, the defense Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning gave the Minnesota Wild a shootout loss at home in Florida after the Wild bounced back twice from a two-goal deficit. In the St. Paul home ice rematch, the Wild prevented the Lightning from flipping the script, preventing Tampa Bay from scoring the late equalizer and holding onto a 4-2 win on Sunday afternoon.

Wild goals leader Ryan Hartman had the game winner and was joined in the scoring by Nick Bjugstad, Victor Rask and Marcus Foligno. Cam Talbot stopped 28 of 30 shots and had an assist of his own, the fourth of his career and the first with the Wild. Tampa Bay netminder Andrei Vasilevky was fired on with 36 shots, while Corey Perry and Alex Killorn had the goals for the Lightning.

For the first ten minutes, Xcel Energy Center had little excellence and not a whole lot of energy, and you could hear a pin drop in the building, that is, until Bjugstad finally gave the home crowd a reason to use their inner voice with a beautiful snipe over Vasilevsky’s left shoulder to score the first goal of the game.

The Lightning calmed the Minnesota crowd just 48 seconds later when Perry, the historic Wild assassin, fired a shot past Talbot to set the game at 1.

Late in the first period, Rask made the most of his return to the ice after making a healthy scratch in the last two games, finding a loose puck on a missed shot by Kevin Fiala and beating Vasilevsky high to reclaim the lead for the Wild .

The Lightning came flying for the second period, but the Wild was up to the task. Talbot didn’t bite on a 2-on-1, stopping Pat Maroons’ shot and extending to amplify the rebound. Minutes later, Mikhail Sergachev got a shot at Talbot, who kicked the rebound to Ross Colton’s right side with an open net, but Fiala broke the game. Not long after, Jordie Benn continued to make the most of his increased ice age with Jared Spurgeon out of the lineup, giving up the body to break a 2-on-1 Tampa Bay.

A scary moment occurred where Hartman and Mathieu Joseph got into a dire clash for the Tampa Bay net. Both players stumbled off the ice trying to shake off the pain on the bench, but while Hartman stayed in the game, Joseph reportedly went into the tunnel to let the trainers watch — and didn’t return to play.

Fiala, who had a difficult first period with turnovers and missed shots, stepped up in the second with some fine plays – his best was a chance that Zach Bogosian dropped.

With just over 10 minutes to play in the second, Killorn grabbed the puck from an offensive zone face-off, ran the top part of the zone, then used a huge screen to pulse a shot past Talbot to end the game. to realign.

The Foligno/Greenway/Eriksson Ek had a strong shift around eight minutes, starting with a little longer zone time and a nice exploding shoulder from Jordan Greenway behind the net before holding the puck and Joel Eriksson Ek for a chance. In the ensuing scrum with Eriksson Ek and Foligno poking at the puck, Bogosian checked JEEK, pulling another minor and putting the Wild back on the power play.

Tampa Bay killed the penalty, but just seconds after the penalty expired, Rask had a brilliant chance to retake the lead when his shot was deflected by an outstretched Vasilevsky’s gauntlet. When the puck appeared to float under the bar in the net, the recently returned Bogosian tapped the puck above the bar and over the net, denying a great opportunity.

Immediately afterwards, Bogosian pushed the net off the berths and went back to the box for a third time in the second period – although the Wild failed to convert for the third time. Minnesota kept the momentum and had some good zone time late in the period after Fiala fought hard to keep the puck in the Tampa Bays zone. But when the Lightning went to the clear, Matt Dumba took a careless high-sticking call, handing the Lightning a power play that he would carry for 1:39 in the third.

The Wild would kill the penalty and use the momentum to dominate possession and chances in the third, although both teams traded opportunities early. Talbot’s stoned shot from Bogosians out of the slot, while Vasilevsky averted a shot from Eriksson Ek that nearly changed Greenway’s direction. Moose sprang into action and set up Maroon at his own blueline with a hit that kept the Tampa Bay on the ice for a few moments as he tried to remember where he was.

The Wild would take their third lead of the game when absolutely red-hot Hartman took a nice pass from Kirill Kaprizov, twirled and turned to whistle a wristshot past the Lightning netminder, leaving the Wild at 3-2. With his 12th goal of the season, Hartman has scored in three consecutive (and four of his last five) goals, and has 13 points in his last 14 games.

Wild fourth liner Brandon Duhaime, in the midst of a strong game and especially a strong third period, went into the penalty area for a trip right after being boarded from behind by Sergachev (who surprisingly didn’t deserve a call), giving Tampa a late chance to to equalize. But despite a good zone time and puck move, the Wild denied the Lightning and deserved the kill.

Tampa Bay would pull Vasilefski over with more than three minutes to go, but despite plenty of good looks, the Wild seemed to be getting bodies for every attempt the Lightning could get at Talbot. Minnesota had its own opportunities, as both Greenway and Dumba threw greeting glances at the empty Tampa net, but missed the net and got icing on the cake.

With less than a minute to go, it looked like Lightnings pressure would result in another draw, but Talbot was up to the task. After the clear, Greenway lighted Ondrej Palat in the neutral zone, and the puck found Folignos’ stick, who sent it from the center of the ice and this time found the net to put the game on ice, 4-2.

With the win, Minnesota extended their division lead beyond halftime St. Louis Blues to four points. The Wild will look to continue their winning ways by taking their fourth straight win against the Western Conference basement home Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday evening.

Burning questions

Another multipoint game for Kaprizov?

Sadly, Kaprizov only had one primary assist, although it came at a crucial opportunity as it was his pass that delivered Hartmans’ game winner. Without his dynamic linemate Mats Zucarello – who was scratched as a decision during the match due to a hand injury sustained against the Winnipeg Jets last Friday, Kaprizov’s new look of Dolla Bill, Hartman and Rem Pitlick found some success with an expected 5 to 5 of 50.85%, but not nearly as dominant as the other scoring lines of the Wilds – Fiala/Gaudreau/Rask ended at 85.81% and Foligno/Eriksson Ek/Greenway at 80.94%.

With a matchup with Arizona looming on the horizon – a team currently holding the league’s worst goal difference of -38 – Kaprizov should have a golden opportunity to get back on the multi-point train.

Will they shut down what’s left of the Lighting star forward?

For the most part, they managed to suffocate the Lightnings’ biggest remaining goal scorers, with Killorn being the only top-five goalscorer to find the net. Tampas, leading points earner Steven Stamkos had the lone assist on Killorn’s goal, but knocking out Anthony Cirelli and Ondrej Palat (not to mention giving star defender Victor Hedman a minus-four for the game) helped the Wild avoid that. the Lightning held a lead at every point of the game.

They only let old relic Corey Perry score his second goal of the season, so you can’t win them all I guess.