Wild rally to beat Lightning, 4-2, for fourth win in a row

TAMPA, Fla. — The Wild are out of practice when it comes to rallying, but it didn’t show.

After falling behind for the first time this season, the Wild caught back up to the Lightning before completing a 4-2 comeback on Thursday night at Amalie Arena for their fourth consecutive victory.

They still haven’t lost in regulation, and the Wild’s seven-game point streak is their longest to open a season since they went 6-0-1 in 2008.

Matt Boldy broke a 2-2 tie only 54 seconds in the third period on the power play after Joel Eriksson Ek scored the equalizer late in a second period that saw the Wild’s one-goal lead turn into a one-goal deficit.

When Kirill Kaprizov capitalized on the Wild’s first shot 6:23 into the first period, the Wild looked like the same team that just schooled the reigning Stanley Cup champion Panthers, 5-1, two nights earlier.

Jonas Brodin tipped a neutral-zone pass around Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel to Marco Rossi to create a 3-on-1 with Kaprizov that Kaprizov buried with a one-timer from his office on the right side.

The Lightning did challenge to check if the Wild were offside, but video review determined Rossi had possession and control of the puck before entering the offensive zone so the goal counted. Rossi is on a career-best six-game point streak.

The seven consecutive games the Wild have opened the scoring has tied the franchise record for any point of a season; this last happened during 2016-17.

They’re also only the fourth NHL team in the past 20 years to tally the first goal in each of its first seven games.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury protected that lead the rest of the period, making 12 saves in the first during his first start since the second game of the season.

But unlike their previous performances, the Wild couldn’t extend their edge.

At 8:55 of the second, the Lightning responded with a short-handed goal from Hagel, who went five-hole on Fleury after Anthony Cirelli wove into the Wild’s zone.

Only 2:36 later, Tampa Bay moved ahead 2-1 on a one-timer through traffic by Nikita Kucherov that sunk the Wild in their first hole.

They went 391:31 without trailing in regulation to start the season, the second-longest streak in NHL history behind only the 1969-70 Bruins (457:21).

This was unfamiliar territory for the Wild, but they adjusted.

After Brodin eluded pressure from the Lightning at the offensive blue line, the Wild worked the puck to Zach Bogosian, who pinched to the corner where he sent a pass to the middle that was directed in by Eriksson Ek with 1:38 left in the second. Boldy also factored into the play, his first of two points.

Then in the third, Eriksson Ek was high-sticked only 33 seconds after puck drop and on the ensuing power play, Boldy moved into Kaprizov’s usual perch on the right side and wired in a Mats Zuccarello pass to finish the Wild’s first rally of the season.

Kaprizov assisted on Boldy’s game-winner and then buried an empty-netter with 34 seconds remaining. His four goals are tied with Boldy and Zuccarello for the team lead, and Kaprizov’s four-game multi-point streak is tied for the longest of his career.

That was the power play’s first conversion in four tries, while the penalty kill went 1 for 1 after not taking a penalty vs. Florida.

Fleury, in his 99th game with the Wild, racked up 23 saves, while Andrei Vasilevskiy had 14 for Tampa Bay.

This was also the 1,027th game of Fleury’s career, and he’s two away from tying Patrick Roy for third in NHL history.

Aside from subbing in Fleury for Filip Gustavsson, who is 4-0-1 with a sparking .952 save percentage and 1.40 goals-against average, the Wild kept their lineup the same.

Ryan Hartman remained out; he’s still dealing with an upper-body injury but was also sick.

As for captain Jared Spurgeon, he’s missed five games because of a lower-body injury related to his hip and back surgeries from earlier this year, but Spurgeon will meet the team in Philadelphia and the plan is for him to skate with the team on Friday.

After playing the Flyers on Saturday afternoon, the Wild’s road trip concludes on Tuesday at Pittsburgh.