TAMPA, Fla. – Wild coach John Hynes turned his head from left to right as he spoke to the players sitting on the bench and standing on the ice in front of him.
The Wild gave up three goals in succession, including two in 3 minutes, 4 seconds, to downgrade an early lead into a two-goal deficit on the road at the beginning of a tough trip.
That led Hynes to call a timeout, and he used the break to send a message.
But the Wild never recovered, and the Lightning stormed away 7-3 on Thursday at Amalie Arena to flatten the Wild after their 5-0 blowout vs. the Islanders earlier in the week.
This was the Wild’s fifth loss in their last six games; they’ve won only twice over the past 11.
Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point capped off a three-goal second before Steven Stamkos and Mikey Eyssimont capitalized on the power play the next period during a field day for the Lightning offense.
Point had two assists besides the game-winner, NHL leading scorer Nikita Kucherov factored in three goals, and Anthony Cirelli scored a pair of goals and picked up an assist. Victor Hedman’s four points included a goal and three assists. In net, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 30 shots.
At one point, the Lightning actually trailed the Wild.
Joel Eriksson Ek wired the puck by Vasilevskiy at 5:17 of the first period for his team-leading 18th goal after slick passing by the Wild in the Tampa Bay zone; after a 10-goal drought, Eriksson Ek has scored three times in his last two games.
But not even a minute later, at 6:12, the Lightning retaliated on a booming Hedman shot that eluded Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson (31) saves.
But at 1-1 against a rested Tampa Bay team in its building, the Wild were in a decent spot.
But they struggled in the second period.
Cirelli converted off the rush only 16 seconds into the period just as a Brock Faber penalty expired to give the Lightning their first of three power play goals in three tries.
By 3:20, Tampa Bay doubled its advantage when Waltteri Merela buried a Conor Sheary pass for his first goal in the NHL.
That’s when Hynes used his timeout, and the Wild improved initially.
Marco Rossi had a slam-dunk tap-in at 10:52 after Jake Middleton threw the puck toward the net. They were back to being behind by a pair of goals when a Brock Faber turnover ended up in front of the net where Point finished off his own rebound at 12:41 after Gustavsson made the first stop with his right pad. But with 15 seconds left in the second, Middleton backhanded in a Rossi feed to once again move the Wild within a goal of the Lightning; this was Middleton’s second three-point effort of the season.
Penalty trouble, however, cost the Wild in the third, sabotaging their attempt at a comeback.
Stamkos (1:09) and Mikey Eyssimont (6:59) scored during Tampa Bay power plays, with Stamkos’ shot caroming in off Faber’s right arm and Eyssimont getting on the end of a loose puck in front of Gustavsson.
The Wild’s power play blanked on their two opportunities.
Cirelli tallied his second of the game with 2:08 remaining.