Lightning Come Back with Wild Finish to Down Minnesota

Mike Smith
3 days ago
4 min read

By Mike Smith | Thunderstruck Sports

Erik Cernak scored the game-winning goal with less than four minutes to play, and Darren Raddysh had a goal and two assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning fought back from a two-goal deficit twice to beat the Minnesota Wild, 6-3.

Jake Guentzel scored the 300th goal of his career and added an assist. Brandon Hagel had a goal and an assist, and Brayden Point scored his sixth point in seven games with a goal in the second period that got Tampa Bay on the board after a slow start.

The Lightning followed a familiar pattern following a strong road trip. They struggled the first ten minutes of the game and allowed Minnesota to build a comfortable two-goal lead in the first period.

A flawless penalty kill during last week's West Coast road trip fell flat immediately on Tuesday night. Mats Zuccarello scored on the Minnesota power play only 2:28 into the first period when Anthony Cirelli went off for a hook on Danila Yurov.

Corey Perry and Michael McCarron were both sent off for fighting moments later when they scrapped behind the Tampa Bay net. Perry would leave the game for a period of time and return with a gash across his left cheek wrapped under the eye.

Brock Faber scored another power play goal at the 18:49 mark of the opening period as the Bolts fell into a two-goal deficit heading into the first intermission.

Wild Second Period Sees Lightning Power Back

Point put Tampa Bay on the scoresheet with a power play goal at the 5:45 mark of the second period to bring the Bolts to within one.

Then the game quickly turned on its head.

Gage Goncalves was sent off for cross-checking Quinn Hughes, and Cernak tripped Joel Eriksson-Ek only 21 seconds later, leading to a huge man-advantage for Minnesota.

The Lightning penalty kill unit found its groove and staved off the Minnesota 1:32 5-on-3, with JJ Moser and Ryan McDonagh on the ice for the duration of the kill.

However, Tampa Bay lost its momentum, and Minnesota answered back at 9:51 with a Vladimir Tarasenko goal to again put the Wild up by two. The goal could have been disastrous if not for Gurentzel being in the right place at the right time a few moments later.

Guentzel found himself down on his knees in front of the crease when a Raddysh shot bounced off the pads of Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson and flipped his direction. Guentzel quickly whacked at the flailing puck and managed to get it through to the back of the net to bring the Lightning back within one at 12:27.

"The Guentzel goal was a big one to give us a little bit more of a hope," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after the game.

Raddysh tied the game at three when he scored his 20th goal of the season at the 15:19 mark of the period with a blast of a slap shot at the top of the right circle from a Nikita Kucherov pass.

The goal tied the Tampa Bay Lightning record for most goals by a defenseman in a single season. He now shares the mark with Bolts captain Victor Hedman (2021-22) and Brian Boyle (2010-11).

"Obviously, I'm happy to get that," Raddysh said of the accomplishment. "But happier to get the win."

Minnesota had a go-ahead goal disallowed at 18:42 of the period. Bobby Brink was called for goalie interference after cross-checking Raddysh into Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Third Period Stalemate Broken Wide-Open

For the majority of the third period, both teams seemed content to play with thoughts of overtime. Each team pushed, but neither team broke until a long shot from Charle-Edouard D'Astous careened off the boards toward Gustavsson.

Gustavsson mishandled the puck, and it flopped through his five-hole and into the open crease. Cernak, who was streaking into the Minnesota zone, never gave up on the play and hammered the puck into the net, breaking the in-net camera.

Initially, official Jon McIssac waved off the goal. However, further review determined that the goal was good and the Lightning were up 4-3 with 2:53 remaining.

"I was behind all of them, you know. I was just back-checking," Cernak said when his goal was initially called off. "In my head, it was like: 'I scored.' Thank God it went in, you know."

"I made sure to hit the camera for everyone to see."

Hagel and Pontus Holmberg added two empty-net goals to extend the final score to 6-3.

The win was their fifth in their last seven games to bring them within two points of the Atlantic Division-leading Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres were off Tuesday night and face Boston on Wednesday.

Three Stars of the Game

Erik Cernak, Tampa Bay. Hustled while chasing a long shot and ended up scoring the game-winner on a puck mishandled by Minnesota.
Darren Raddysh, Tampa Bay. Scored his 20th goal of the season to bring the Bolts back even with the Wild during a crazy second period.
Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay. Earned the 300th goal of his career to give Tampa Bay a chance to get back into the game.