The Tampa Bay Lightning couldn't hold onto a two-goal lead twice as the Minnesota Wild rallied back to take a 5-4 win over the Bolts in overtime on Saturday night in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Bolts entered the night securing eight out of a possible ten points on a five game home stand to begin the regular season. That high powered offense which was showcased in wins over Carolina and Detroit showed up in a hurry in St. Paul as the Bolts tallied three goals in the very first period. Ryan Callahan marked his return official with his first official goal of the season to give Tampa Bay a quick 1-0 lead. Callahan returned to the ice this past Thursday following off season shoulder surgery.
Yanni Gourde made it a 2-0 game on a rebound chance by Ryan McDonagh for his third goal of the young season.
After Minnesota cut the lead in half on a goal by Charlie Coyle, J.T. Miller joined the scoring party in the first period as he redirected a Victor Hedman shot from the right circle past the glove of Minnesota Wild goaltender Alex Stalock to make it 3-1 Lightning heading into the first intermission. The Bolts came out firing in the first period outshooting the Wild 16-9 but things would turn for the worst in the second and a majority of the third period for Tampa Bay.
Marcus Foligno tallied his first goal of the season as the Wild cut the Bolts lead to 3-2 at the end of a second frame that saw extreme life from the Wild offense outshooting the Lightning 13-8 in the period.
Zach Parise and Jason Zucker scored for Minnesota in the third period to give the Wild their first lead of the game but with just under five minutes to play in the game, Anton Stralman netted his first goal of the season to tie the game at four a piece.
The game would head to the extra period of overtime where the Wild sealed the second point for the victor as Mikael Granlund put a knuckler past Andrei Vasilevskiy as he finished with 29 saves on the night.
No rest for the weary as the Tampa Bay Lightning will play the second game on the road back to back tomorrow night at the United Center in Chicago against the Blackhawks.
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