Carlson scores first two goals with Lightning in 3-2 win over Wild
John Carlson scored twice and Dennis Hildeby made 34 saves in his Tampa Bay debut as the Lightning won all three games of their homestand.
John Carlson scored his first two goals with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who held off the Minnesota Wild 3-2 at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday.
The defenceman signed a two-year, $17 million contract with Tampa Bay on July 1. Both goals came early. Anthony Cirelli opened the scoring at 5:26 of the first period, redirecting an Erik Cernak point shot. Carlson made it 2-0 just 36 seconds later with a wrist shot from the point that beat Jesper Wallstedt through a screen from Gage Goncalves.
Quinn Hughes cut it to 2-1 at 2:32 of the second with a shot from the centre point that got through traffic. Carlson answered at 4:55 with a power-play one-timer from the high slot off a Nikita Kucherov pass. Kucherov finished with two assists.
Blake Coleman pulled Minnesota within one at 14:01 of the second, also on the power play, beating Dennis Hildeby high to the glove side from the left circle after a setup pass from Kirill Kaprizov.
Hildeby, acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1, stopped 34 shots in his first game with Tampa Bay. Wallstedt made 32 saves for the Wild.
The Lightning improved to 3-1-0 and won all three games of their homestand. The Wild fell to 2-1-1 and have lost two in a row.
