Friday, 4 a.m.
For a night, he was Nikita Kucherov. For a night, he was Connor McDavid.
The puck was on his stick, and the wind was blowing in his face, and the goalmouth looked as big as a tunnel. This is what it is like every night for the snipers of the NHL, the big-time scorers.
For a night, it was that way for Darren Raddysh, too.
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Raddysh, of all people, led the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild Thursday night. He scored two goals — coming in, he had one goal in 60 games — in a defensive-oriented victory for the Bolts.
It was a rare win for the Lightning in Minnesota. In fact, Lightning coach Jon Cooper acknowledged the rookie Declan Carlisle won in his first trip to Minnesota.
“I’ve coached 800 of these, and he’s played in one,” Cooper said. “And we’re tied for wins in this building.”
The win was needed by the Bolts, who seemed on the verge of another bad road trip, But they shook off an earlier loss to Winnipeg with the defensive effort.. The defense of the Bolts also got a goal from Victor Hedman and took 13 of the team’s 29 shots. The only offensive goal was an empty-netter by Brandon Hagel, who ended an 18-game goalless drought.
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 22 of 23 shots to improve his record to 9-8 on the season. He allowsd a goal only former teammate Zach Bogosian with 4:25 left to play.
Tampa Bay is only the road again Saturday night to face the Boston Bruins.