Nearly 10 games into their new season, the Minnesota Wild find themselves in a battle at the top of the NHL’s Central Division.
Coach John Hynes’ club seems to be up to the task.
Following a lengthy and successful road trip, the Wild will open a three-game homestand when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning Friday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
The team’s recent seven-game road trip started in Winnipeg before stops in Missouri, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania, battleground homes for some of the league’s top clubs.
One of the results of the 5-1-1 road trip was a solid 4-2 win in Tampa against the Lightning, completing a two-game sweep of the Sunshine State after Minnesota throttled the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers 5-1.
The lone pointless blemish on the trip was a 7-5 setback in Philadelphia to the struggling Flyers. Minnesota held a 4-3 lead in the final period before the home side, which produced 17 shots in the frame, tallied four times to rally for the victory.
In the finale in Pittsburgh, former Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury won for the second time this season in his 100th appearance for the Wild.
It was also his final game in the Steel City, where he won three Stanley Cups, and the 563rd victory, second-most in NHL history, of a Hall of Fame career.
“There was some extra motivation to get (Fleury) the win,” said Mats Zuccarello, alluding to the goalie’s 21st and final season.
Minnesota produced its first regulation win in Pittsburgh since Nov. 10, 2016, concluding a road trip that spanned 17 days.
“I just like the mindset we’re playing with, and we need to keep going in that direction,” Hynes said after beating the Lightning last Thursday in Tampa, the site of Fleury’s other victory.
In Denver Wednesday night to open a four-game road trip against exclusively Central competition, Tampa Bay jumped all over the Colorado Avalanche early and looked nothing offensively like a club that lost its best scorer ever.
After getting tallies from Nikita Kucherov, Jake Guentzel and Conor Geekie in the game’s first 5:32, the Lightning added a second by Guentzel and Anthony Cirelli’s empty-netter for a convincing 5-2 win over the injury-plagued Avalanche.
That gave the Steven Stamkos-less Lightning a three-game winning streak and showed they still have a dangerous offense. They beat Colorado goalie Kaapo Kahkonen four times in 20 shots in his franchise debut.
Last season’s Art Ross Trophy winner with 144 points, his second time earning the award for the top points producer, Kucherov recorded a goal and two assists for his fifth multi-point game and 250th of his career.
The 31-year-old right winger surprised Kahkonen and Guentzel by slipping a pass back to the new forward as Kucherov zipped around the net, leading to an easy score as the goalie followed the Russian star instead of defending the open cage.
“That was just unbelievable, eyes-in-the-back-of-his-head (stuff),” said Guentzel, who has hit the net four times after a sluggish start.
Andrei Vasilevskiy was strong again in goal, allowing just two to get by on 35 shots to notch his third consecutive win and 299th of his outstanding career.
Cirelli’s potted his 99th all-time marker.
