Defenseman Darren Raddysh scores twice, Lightning beat banged-up Wild 4-1
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Defenseman Darren Raddysh scored his first two goals of the season and Victor Hedman had a power-play goal in the Tampa Bay Lightning's 4-1 victory over the injury-ravaged Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
“We've got to generate a little bit more offense, especially from the back end,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “That was in our game plan today, and it worked out well for us.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves to end a three-start losing streak and Brandon Hagel added an empty-net goal to help the Lightning hand the Wild their fourth consecutive loss. Vasilevskiy's bid for his 34th career shutout lasted until there was 4:25 left, when Zach Bogosian snapped a shot past him.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for the Wild, missing for the third straight game the chance to match Patrick Roy for second place on the NHL victory list with 551.
Nikita Kucherov was limited to two shots and one assist for the Lightning on the night he was named to his fifth All-Star Game, ending his four-game goal streak. The Russian right wing has 10 goals and 10 assists in his last 12 games.
Raddysh brought the Lightning to life soon after the first intermission when he redirected Luke Glendening's shot from the point and backhanded his own rebound just out of Fleury's reach as former Lightning forward Pat Maroon was a split-second late with his clearing attempt.
Then Raddysh, a 27-year-old defenseman who had one goal in his first 60 regular-season NHL games, buried a wraparound less than 2 1/2 minutes later after going unchecked behind the net. The Lightning had only nine goals from the blue line this season before getting three in this game.
“They just haven’t gone in. So to have three from the back end it, just gives us a little boost going forward,” said Raddysh, who scored once in the playoffs last spring.
The Wild might as well have hosted this game in Iowa, where their AHL affiliate plays, given how many minor-leaguers they needed to fill out their lineup with their recent rash of injuries.
Goalie Filip Gustavsson, defensemen Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon, and forwards Marcus Foligno, Kirill Kaprizov, Vinni Lettieri and Mats Zuccarello were all unavailable. Just a week ago, only Brodin and Zuccarello were sidelined from the group that includes two first-line wings, the most experienced pair of blue-liners and their primary netminder. Oh, and all three of their captains.
“Our execution tonight didn’t allow us to play fast,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “It was more the second pass out of the zone. We had a lot of pucks in skates, missed passes, bobbled pucks.”
The Wild fell to 3-15-1 when their opponent scores first.
“I thought we worked and tried to do the right things,” Bogosian said. “We’ve just got to stay connected.”
UP NEXT
Lightning: At Boston on Saturday night.
Wild: At Columbus on Saturday night.
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