Hot Ryan Hartman strikes as Wild arrests the flash

A week ago to defend Stanley Cup Master Tampa Bay Lightning gave Minnesota Wild a penalty shot at home in Florida after Wild had returned twice from a two-goal loss. In the rematch at home in St. Paul, Wild prevented Lightning from translating the script, preventing Tampa Bay from leveling up late and holding on to a 4-2 win on Sunday afternoon.

Wild goals manager Ryan Hartman won the game, followed by Nick Bjugstad, Victor Rask and Marcus Foligno. Cam Talbot stopped 28 of 30 shots and got his own pass, the fourth and first Wild of his career. Tampa Bay net keeper Andrei Vasilevky was fired with 36 shots when Corey Perry and Alex Killorn scored Lightning’s goals.

For the first ten minutes at the Xcel Energy Center, there was little excellence and no much energy, and the building heard a needle fall – until Bjugstad finally gave the hometown audience a reason to use their inner voice over Vasilevsky’s left shoulder and scored the first goal of the game.

The lightning silenced the Minnesota crowd just 48 seconds later as Perry, a historic Wild assassin, struck a shot past Talbot and leveled the game 1.

Late in the first set, Rask made the most of his return to the ice after having been a healthy scratch in the last two games, found a loose puck from Kevin Fiala’s failed shot and hit Vasilevsky high to regain Wild’s lead. .

Lightning flew for the second episode, but Wild was on duty. Talbot didn’t bite in a 2-1 situation, stopped Pat Maroon’s shot and spread to fence the rebound. A minute later Mikhail Sergachev got a shot against Talbot, who kicked the ball to the right for Ross Colton’s open goal, but Fiala cut the game. Shortly thereafter, Jordie Benn continued to take advantage of the increased ice age as Jared Spurgeon left the lineup, surrendering the body and breaking up Tampa Bay 2-1.

A frightening moment occurred when Hartman and Mathieu Joseph had a nasty clash in front of the Tampa Bay network. Both players limped on the ice and tried to shed the pain on the bench, but while Hartman remained in the game, Joseph was told to direct the tunnel down to the coaches to watch – and did not return to the game.

Fiala, who had a difficult first period of moves and missed shots, rose to second with a great game – his best was the Driving Opportunity, which stumbled upon Zach Bogosian.

With just over 10 minutes left in the second set, Killorn took the puck from the starting area of ​​the attack area, walked to the top of the area, and then used a massive screen on the wrist past Talbot to get the game back on track.

Foligno / Greenway / Eriksson Ek made a strong substitution near the eight-minute mark, starting with a slightly extended area time and Jordan Greenway’s comfortably exploding shoulder behind the net, after which he held the puck and found Joel Eriksson in front of Ek. opportunity. In the ensuing robbery as Eriksson Ek and Folignon keyed in the puck, Bogosia checked JEEK, pulled another minor, and put Wild back in the power game.

Tampa Bay killed the penalty kick, but just seconds after the penalty went out, Rask had a great opportunity to regain control when his shot was directed at the glowing spread Vasilevsky. As the puck seemed to float in the net under the crossbar, the recently returned Bogosian tapped the puck above the crossbar and over the net, denying an amazing opportunity.

Immediately after that, Bogosian pushed the net off its mounts and headed back to the field for the third time in the second period – though the third time Wild was unable to change. Minnesota kept the swing, and had a good zone time after a late period as Fiala fought hard to keep the puck in the Tampa Bay area. But when Lightning survived, Matt Dumba took a sloppy high call and gave Lightning a power game that he would carry in the third game at 1:39.

Wild killed the penalty kick and used the momentum to control the ball and places in the third round, although both teams switched places early. Talbot stoned Bogosian in the opening, while Vasilevsky turned away a shot by Eriksson Ek that Greenway almost deviated from. The deer took part in the action, lifting Maroon on his own line with a hit that kept Tampa Bay moving forward on the ice for a moment as he tried to remember where he was.

Wild earned their third lead in the game when a completely hot Hartman took a beautiful pass from Kirill Kaprizov, spun and whistled a wrist shot past Lightning’s net minute, raising Wild 3-2. In his 12th goal of the season, Hartman has scored three goals in a row (and four of the last five) and has 13 points in the last 14 games.

Wild fourth-line player Brandon Duhaime, in the middle of a strong game and especially a strong third set, went to the screen when he stumbled right after Sergachov (who surprisingly didn’t deserve a call), giving Tampa a late chance to equalize. . But despite good zone time and puck movement, Wild banned Lightning and deserved to kill.

Tampa Bay pulled Vasilefsk more than three minutes left, but despite many beautiful looks, Wild seemed to get bodies in front of every attempt Lightning could hit Talbot. Minnesota had its own opportunities when both Greenway and Dumba watched Hail-Marya Tampa’s empty network but skipped the network and received freeze calls.

In less than a minute, it seemed that Lightning’s pressure would lead to a new draw, but Talbot was up to the task. After the clearing, Greenway set fire to Ondrej Palat in the neutral zone, and the puck found a club in Folignon that sent ice in the middle of it and this time found the net and put the game on ice, 4-2.

With the victory, Minnesota idled its division leadership St. Louis Blues to four points. Wild aims to continue his winning streak by earning his fourth consecutive victory against the basement house of the Western Conference. Arizona Coyotes tuesday night.

Burning questions

Another multipoint game for Kaprizov?

Unfortunately, Kaprizov had only one primary pass, although it came at a critical opportunity, as his pass raised Hartman’s game winner. Without his dynamic linemate Mats Zucarello, who was scratched as a time-out because he got a hand injury. Winnipeg Jets Last Friday, Kaprizov’s new look, like Dolla Bill, Hartman and Rem Pitlick, achieved success with an expected 50.85 percent finish, but not nearly as dominant as Wild’s other finish lines – Fiala / Gaudreau. / Rask ranked 85.81% and Foligno / Eriksson Ek / Greenway 80.94%.

With a match on the horizon with Arizona – the team that currently owns the worst goal difference in the league (-38), Kaprizov should have a golden opportunity to get back on the multi-point train.

Are they shutting down what’s left of the Lighting star?

For the most part, they managed to stifle Lightning’s biggest remaining scorers, and Killorn was the only top five scorer to find a net. Tampa’s leading scorer Steven Stamkos did have a single pass on Killorn’s goal, but the closure of Anthony Cirell and Ondrej Palat (not to mention the minus-four game by star defender Victor Hedman) helped Wild prevent Lightning from holding the lead. at any point in the game.

They let the ancient remnant of Corey Perry score just their second goal this season, so you can’t beat them all.