Wild drop Lightning with another OT win

Mikael Granlund's overtime goal gave the Minnesota Wild a 5-4 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday in St. Paul.

Mikael Granlund's overtime goal gave the Minnesota Wild a 5-4 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday in St. Paul.

Charlie Coyle dropped a pass to Granlund on the right side, and rather than pass Granlund shot, squeaking the puck past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for the game-winner at 3:43.

The Wild have now gone to overtime four times in their first eight games of the season, improving to 2-0-2 in such games.

The Lightning had firm control of the game after the opening period, outshooting Minnesota by a 16-9 margin and breaking out to a 3-1 lead on goals from Ryan Callahan, Yanni Gourde and J.T. Miller. Coyle kept his team afloat with the Wild's lone goal of the period, converting a Nino Niederreiter pass from behind the net at the 13:23 mark.

After the rough start, however, Minnesota took control in the second period, holding the visitors scoreless while outshooting the Lightning by a 13-8 margin. The Wild cut into the lead at the 3:49 mark, as an Eric Fehr pass found a rushing Marcus Foligno, whose backhanded shot earned him his first goal of the season.

The Wild's dominance continued into the third period as the Wild tied the game on Zach Parise's tap-in of a rebound off a Mikko Koivu shot at the 10:45 mark, and Jason Zucker's gave Minnesota the lead with his team-leading fourth goal 13:13 into the period. Anton Stralman equalized for the Lightning less than two minutes later.

The Lightning was playing their first road game of the season after opening with a 4-1-0 mark on home ice. Saturday's loss extended Tampa Bay's winless streak in Minnesota to seven games, as the Lightning are 0-5-2 at the Xcel Energy Center since beating the Wild on April 2, 2011.

Alex Stalock made 27 saves to earn his first victory of the season. The Wild backup goalie got the call after regular starter Devan Dubnyk played in Friday night's 3-1 road win in Dallas.

 

(With inputs from agencies.)