The Wild never lost three in a row in regulation during the darkest days of their season, and they still haven’t.

In a showdown between top-five teams, the Wild upstaged the Lightning 5-1 on Tuesday, March 3, at Grand Casino Arena to climb out of their two-game rut with a rout polished off by a record-breaking goal from Kirill Kaprizov.

Kaprizov became the Wild’s franchise leading goal scorer, recording No. 220 and passing Marian Gaborik on an empty-netter with 3 minutes, 19 seconds to go.

Quinn Hughes and Mats Zuccarello both had a goal and an assist, Matt Boldy assisted on three goals, and Brock Faber opened the scoring.

But it was an impressive individual effort by Yakov Trenin that put the Wild in the clear.

Barely two minutes after Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov cut the Wild’s 2-0 lead in half, Trenin drove to the middle at the end of his shift — and while his linemates were going for a change — and buried a botched save by goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to reinstate a two-goal buffer for the Wild.

Filip Gustavsson was solid, making 25 saves compared to 17 for Vasilevskiy, and the Wild continued their dominance against the Lightning at home where they’re 16-3 all-time.

But the Wild didn’t escape unscathed.

Forward Marcus Johansson left early after a collision with Darren Raddysh in the third period, this after Johansson was high-sticked in the second. The Wild did get defenseman Jonas Brodin back after he missed 14 games with a lower-body injury that he had surgery on, and Robby Fabbri debuted after the team claimed him off waivers from St. Louis.

How it happened

Faber netted his 14th goal only 3:46 into the first period, uncorking a shot by Vasilevskiy from the right faceoff circle, and he’s only three goals shy of tying Brent Burns (2010-11) for the most in a season by a Wild defenseman.

The Lightning had more looks the rest of the period, but the opportunistic Wild struck again in the second amid a string of three penalties by Tampa Bay: On just the Wild’s seventh shot of the game, Zuccarello connected on a 4-on-3 power play at 4:59, the playmaker shooting instead of passing with his usual target Kaprizov in the penalty box.

Boldy’s assist was the seventh consecutive Wild goal he factored in, which tied the franchise record. His 10-game point streak is tied for the longest of his career.

Then with 4:53 left in the period, the Lightning finally solved Gustavsson when Kucherov sank a one-timer off the rush.

Turning point

But only 2:03 later, Trenin responded after initially losing possession as he swerved between two Tampa Bay players. Vasilevskiy, though, couldn’t cover up the rolling puck, and Trenin whacked it into the net when he arrived at the crease.

The hit on Johansson by Raddysh resulted in a two-minute interference penalty and after Kaprizov hit the post twice on the power play, the Wild converted back at 5-on-5 when Hughes skated in from the blue line and lifted in his sixth goal of the season.

Hughes is only the third American defenseman in NHL history to post 60 points in five or more consecutive seasons.

But the milestone of the night went to Kaprizov, who drained a 101-foot empty-netter to become the Wild’s new goals leader all-time. He passed Gaborik, who racked up 219 in 502 games, in his 381st game.

Key stat

The Wild went 1-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

Up next

The Wild return to the road for a two-game trip, beginning March 6 at Vegas.

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