Wild top Lightning 7-2

ST. PAUL - Jason Zucker netted one of his two tallies during a four-goal first period as Minnesota pulled away from visiting Tampa Bay 7-2 on Saturday.
Zach Parise and defenseman Marco Scandella each recorded a goal and an assist while captain Mikko Koivu, Erik Haula and blue-liner Jared Spurgeon also tallied for the Wild. Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek recorded two assists apiece and Darcy Kuemper turned aside 17 shots for his fourth win in five decisions.
Defenseman Anton Stralman scored his first goal of 2013-14 to go along with his 100th career assist and Nikita Kucherov also tallied for Tampa Bay, which completed a 3-2-0 road trip. Evgeni Nabokov gave up four goals on eight shots before being replaced by Ben Bishop, who made 11 saves over the final two periods.
Scandella swept around Tampa Bay’s defense to score 7:37 into the game and Koivu squeezed a shot past Nabokov from a sharp angle 39 seconds later. Stralman scored from in front at 11:04 to halve the deficit, but Haula answered from the slot after a turnover and Zucker whipped a shot past Nabokov from along the right-wing boards with 2:45 left in the first period to make it 4-1.
Parise knocked home his own rebound 2:11 into the middle session and Spurgeon beat everyone to the net to redirect Vanek’s pass behind Bishop at 11:12. Kucherov notched his first of the season late in the second on a deflection of Stralman’s shot before Zucker scored on a short-handed breakaway in the third.