Three goals, two defensemen. The Bolts left Minnesota with two more points.
It was all about the Lightning defensemen Thursday night in Minnesota. After having to skate shorthanded defensively on Tuesday in Winnipeg, the Lightning called up Declan Carlile from Syracuse. He made a successful NHL debut in Minnesota, logging 11:27 of ice time.
Darren Raddysh opened the scoring by grabbing back-to-back goals, his first two of the season. The first was a redirect off Luke Glendening’s shot from the point. Raddysh backhanded his own rebound and hit the back of the net. Two and a half minutes later, he buried a wraparound to put his team up 2-0.
Victor Hedman followed the momentum, scoring on the power-play to bring the Lightning up to a 3-0 lead. The was first time this season in which Lightning defensemen accounted for three goals.
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy neared his 34th career shutout, but Zach Bogosian got a shot right past his former teammate with 4:25 left in the third period.
Brandon Hagel added an empty-net goal to help solidify the win, which gave him his first since November and handed Minnesota their fourth consecutive loss.
Overall a solid game for the Lightning. They’ll end the roadtrip with a matchup against the Bruins in Boston on Saturday night.