Tampa Bay Lightning Earn 4-1 Win in Minnesota with Two Goals from Raddysh

The Tampa Bay Lightning got back in the win column with an impressive 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves on 23 shots as the Lightning won their first game in Minnesota since April 2011.

The first three Lightning goals came from the back-end as Darren Raddysh scored twice in the second period and Victor Hedman added a power play tally in the third. Former Lightning defenseman Zach Bogosian broke up Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid late in the third period before Brandon Hagel would add an empty net goal to make it 4-1.

Big Night from the Defense

After a scoreless second period, Darren Raddysh chipped in with a pair of goals in non-traditional ways for a defenseman. His first came off a rebound with a backhand finish and his second came from a wraparound. The two goals doubled Raddysh’s career goal total and were also his first two goals of the season.

In addition to Hedman having a goal, Calvin de Haan had an impressive outing as well. He tallied over 20 minutes of ice time and seven shots on goal. With the Lightning defense core banged up, de Haan will be a valuable veteran who will be taking on an increased role with the news that Mikhail Sergachev will be out for a while

Carlile Makes Debut

Speaking of a banged up Lightning defense, Declan Carlile was called up from Syracuse and made his NHL debut Thursday night in Minnesota. The 23-year old, undrafted defenseman played 11:27 and was +1 on the night to go along with two blocked shots.

Raddysh described Carlile as “solid” after the game and that was the best way to describe Carlile’s debut. He made all of the safe plays and did not give the puck away. He was fairly sheltered in his minutes and the situations he played in but the moment certainly did not seem too big for him.

One they Needed to Have

Thursday night was a game that the Lightning absoblustly needed to win. Minnesota was without a number of their top players and with the Lightning road trip heading to Boston next, they needed this one in a bad way.

With 40 games under their belt now, the playoffs are looking like an uphill climb at the moment for the Lightning. Tampa Bay is currently sitting in the second wild card spot but they have four more games played than the next two teams behind them. You can only win the games you have in front of you and Tampa Bay took care of business in this one, in large part due to the big night from their defense which is been heavily criticized this season.