TAMPA, Fla. — Darren Raddysh scored his 20th goal of the season Tuesday night, tying the Tampa Bay Lightning’s single-season franchise record for goals by a defenseman, and assisted on two other scores in a hard-fought come-from-behind 6-3 win over the Minnesota Wild.

Raddysh’s goal was the second in a two-minute, 52-second stretch and tied the score 3-all in the second period.

Defenseman Erik Cernak gave the Lightning their first lead of the night with 2:53 left to play after Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson mishandled a carom off the end boards to the post, leaving Cernak with an empty net.

In a game that had a playoff feel, the Lightning had to overcome many mistakes of their own doing, including an early deficit and a number of trips to the penalty box.

With the win, the Lightning’s fourth in five games, Tampa Bay pulled within two points of division-leading Buffalo, which was off Tuesday.

The Lightning anticipated a physical game against the Wild, and they certainly went out and flexed their muscle early on with two fights in the first 19 minutes.

They were bloodied but not broken, even though a pair of Minnesota first-period power-play goals had the Lightning chasing the game.

The Wild made the Lightning pay for two minor penalties in the first.

After Lightning center Anthony Cirelli was whistled for a hooking penalty, Brandon Hagel chased down the puck off a defensive-zone faceoff win, but instead of clearing it out of the zone, he kept the puck and lost it. Moments later, Mats Zuccarello sent the puck from the left circle into the crease, where it went off the back of Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh’s skate and in.

Wild forward Michael McCarron skated close to Andrei Vasilevskiy as he covered the puck at the 2:50 mark, prompting a scrum behind the net as all five Lightning skaters converged on McCarron, but Corey Perry drew McCarron’s attention and the two dropped gloves.

Perry took some punishment from the 6-foot-6, 232-pound McCarron, leaving him with blood running down his face. After going down the tunnel, Perry returned, black eye and all, with 3:35 left in the period.

Hagel was whistled for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for a post-whistle outburst at referee Kelly Sutherland, who sent Hagel to the box. It took just 14 seconds on the man advantage for Brock Faber to find the back of the net from the point to make it a 2-0 game with 71 seconds left in the first.

On the ensuing faceoff, Wild forward Nick Foligno challenged Scott Sabourin to a fight after Sabourin had put a hard hit from behind on Minnesota star defenseman Quinn Hughes earlier in the period. Sabourin obliged and was also bloodied from the brawl.

The Lightning cut the lead to one, responding on the power play when Hagel found Brayden Point in the bumper at the 5:45 mark in the second. But then the Lightning were whistled for a cross-checking penalty on Gage Goncalves and Cernak was called for tripping in front of the net, forcing the Lightning to defend a 5-on-3 for 1:40.

Tampa Bay’s penalty kill bent but didn’t break, getting back to even strength unscathed but were unable to build on the momentum when Vladimir Tarasenko’s shot hit off Charle-Edouard D’Astous’ stick and skipped in.

Jake Guentzel’s rebound with 7:32 left in the second, flinging a shot from one knee that bounced back to him off Raddysh’s initial shot, pulled the Lightning within one. It also was Guentzel’s 300th career goal.

And then Raddysh scored on the power play on a rocket from the top of the right circle, tying Victor Hedman and Dan Boyle for the most goals by a defenseman in a single season.

Hagel’s empty-netter and Pontus Holmberg’s unassisted goal rounded out scoring in the final minutes.

____

©2026 Tampa Bay Times. Visit at tampabay.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.