Wild finally trail in regulation but rally to beat Tampa Bay, 4-2

The Wild’s run of not trailing in regulation came to an end Tuesday night in Tampa Bay. Their season-starting points streak did not.

Minnesota trailed, 2-1, in the second period, ending the NHL’s second-longest such run to start a season, but Kirill Kaprizov scored twice and Marc-Andre Fleury earned the win for the first time as the Wild beat the Lightning 4-2 at Amalie Arena.

The Wild (5-0-2) have earned points in all seven of their games this season and are now 4-0-1 in a run of seven straight road games that continues Saturday afternoon at Philadelphia. They beat Stanley Cup champion Florida on Tuesday, 5-1.

The Lightning pulled goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for an extra attacker with 1:42 remaining but the Wild kept the offensive pressure on, finally sealing it when Kaprizov skated the puck alone into the zone for an empty-netter with 34 seconds left.

Kaprizov added an assist and now has 13 points. He is one point behind Colorado’s Cale Makar for the NHL lead.

Matt Boldy scored the go-ahead goal on a power play early in the third period, and Joel Eriksson Ek tied the game 2-2 late in the second period. Fleury stopped 23 of 25 shots in his second start of the season. He was the goalie in the Wild’s second game, a 5-4 shootout loss to Seattle on Oct. 19.

With 12 points, the Wild pulled into a first-place tie with Winnipeg in the Central Division pending the Jets’ late game at Seattle.

As they have in all seven of their games this season, the Wild scored first with their first line. Kaprizov beat Vasilevskiy with another of his one-timers from the right circle, this time on a pass from Mats Zuccarello, to make it 1-0 at 6:23 of the first period. The Wild have now outscored opponents 8-1 in first periods this season.

That lead held until the second period — a soft spot for the Wild this season — when Brandon Hagel scored after an own-zone, power play turnover by Kaprizov, whose pass back to the point was intercepted by Hagel.

Anthony Cirelli skated the puck into the Wild’s zone and, moving right, threw it back to Hagel in the right circle. His one-timer beat Fleury on the open far side to make it 1-1 short-handed at 8:55.

Less than three minutes later, Nikita Kucherov, standing alone in the right circle, ended a strong forecheck when he one-timed a pass from Nick Paul through Fleury’s 5 hole for a 2-1 lead. Suddenly, the Wild trailed in regulation for the first time all season, the end of a 391 minute, 31 second run that is the second-longest to start a season in NHL history behind the 1969-70 Boston Bruins.

The Wild, however, found an extra gear and tied the game late in the period on a goal by Eriksson Ek. After Zach Bogosian kept a forecheck alive at the blue line, he took a pass from Boldy and skated down the right boards until a seam to slot opened. Eriksson Ek was there, and he poked a pass from Bogosian past Vasilevskiy to make it 2-2 with 1:38 left in the period.

That tie didn’t last long. The Wild retook the lead on a power play when Boldy one-timed a pass from Zuccarello past Vasilevskiy from the right circle for a 3-2 lead at 0:54.

Briefly

Defenseman Jared Spurgeon was set to fly to Philadelphia on Thursday so he could be there for a planned afternoon practice at the Flyers’ training center. The team captain has missed five games because of a setback related to the hip and back surgeries he had last winter. … Forward Ryan Hartman missed his third straight game because of an upper body injury.