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Stamkos Scores 14th As Lightning Beat Wild, 2-1

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Lightning accomplished their goal of avoiding a three-game skid.

Steven Stamkos scored his 14th goal of the season and the Lightning beat Minnesota 2-1 on Saturday night, snapping the Wild's four-game winning streak.

Alex Killorn scored in his fourth straight game for the Lightning, who had lost two in a row. Anton Stralman had two assists and Ben Bishop stopped 30 shots.

"Outstanding response, to be honest," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.

The Lightning (14-6-2) haven't lost three consecutive games since March.

Zach Parise scored for Minnesota, which won the other meeting between the teams, 7-2 on Oct. 25. Darcy Kuemper finished with 26 saves.

"This was a very even hockey game," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "They made a play that we didn't, and that was the difference. We gave up two goals against the team that scored the most goals in the league. We gave ourselves a great chance to win this hockey game. We just needed to find a way to score another goal."

Bishop made two saves during Minnesota's power play early in the third period. The Wild went 0 for 3 with the man advantage to drop to 1 for 38 on the road.

"I feel like it's repetitive," Parise said. "At least we were moving it around and getting chances as opposed to the last couple of games, just standing around and staring at each other. We had some really good looks at the end."

After Stamkos beat Kuemper with a wrist shot from the right circle during a power play with 6:18 left in the second, Killorn put Tampa Bay up 2-1 on a redirection with 1:53 left in the period.

"Just in the right place at the right time," Killorn said. "It went off my skate. That's just the way things are going right now for me."

Parise opened the scoring 3:11 into the second after taking a pass through the slot from Thomas Vanek, who has 25 goals and 18 assists in 38 games against Tampa Bay. Parise has 12 goals and 13 assists over 28 games against the Lightning.

Bishop also turned aside a good scoring chance by Ryan Suter in the third. Minnesota ended the game with a 77-second power play, but couldn't take advantage.

"Good teams don't lose three in a row," Stamkos said.

NOTES: Chicago senior adviser Scotty Bowman scouted the game on the 47th anniversary of his first game as an NHL coach with St. Louis. The Hall of Famer won an NHL-record nine Stanley Cups coaching Montreal (five), Pittsburgh (one) and Detroit (three). ... Lightning D Victor Hedman (broken finger) is practicing in a no-contact jersey and could return in the next week or two. ... Wild C Mikko Koivu played after sitting out practice Thursday with flulike symptoms. ... 1980 United States Olympic team goalie Jim Craig and team physician Dr. George Nagobads were at the game.

(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

 

 

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