Patchwork Wild lineup stays intact, but falls to Lightning 4-1

Not even a minute had ticked off the clock and the Wild were down another player.

Ryan Hartman was helped off the ice after getting hit into the boards between the benches by the Lightning's Tanner Jeannot just 56 seconds into the first period.

"You're obviously concerned about him personally, for sure," coach John Hynes said.

Hartman eventually returned, as did Marcus Johansson after a puck to the face sidelined him for part of the second, and their absences being temporary rather than permanent were the few silver linings for the already shorthanded Wild.

Their latest patchwork lineup was stumped 4-1 by Tampa Bay on Thursday at Xcel Energy Center to drop a fourth straight game, their longest skid since the seven-game rut in November that preceded the coaching change.

This, however, is the first time all season the Wild have lost four in a row in regulation.

"Things aren't going to go our way all the time," goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. "Obviously, we've got lots of injuries. But gotta find a way with the guys on the ice. We need points.

"We're fighting to get back in the playoffs. Gotta play 60 minutes consistent every night to have a chance to get some points here."

The Lightning's Darren Raddysh scored twice, his first two goals of the season, but Victor Hedman's power play marker two minutes into the third period really hamstrung the Wild.

With 4:25 left, they finally spoiled goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy's shutout bid on Zach Bogosian's first goal of the season against the team that traded him to the Wild. But instead of trailing 2-1 in the waning minutes, they were down by two goals until Brandon Hagel dumped the puck into an empty net with 41 seconds left.

"That's tough, giving up three goals to a team like that," said Bogosian, who won the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2020 before he was sent to the Wild on Nov. 8 for a 2025 seventh-round draft pick. "They're obviously a good veteran team that is good at controlling leads."

Vasilevskiy finished with 22 saves, while Fleury had 26 in a season-high fourth straight game for the veteran netminder.

Fleury, who's taken over the Wild crease while Filip Gustavsson recovers from a lower-body injury, is still at 550 career wins, one shy of tying Patrick Roy for the second-most victories in NHL history.

Gustavsson is one of six Wild regulars hurt, and this was the most depleted the Wild have been to date.

Last game, they had captain Jared Spurgeon in action, but he's now out with the same lower-body injury that sidelined him for seven games last month. Spurgeon joins Jonas Brodin, Marcus Foligno, Kirill Kaprizov, Vinni Lettieri, Mats Zuccarello and Gustavsson on the injured list.

"It's tough sometimes when you have good players out," Marco Rossi said. "But we can't think about that."

Unlike two of their previous three losses, the Wild weren't behind after the first period.

But they were in the second.

Raddysh backhanded in a rebound at 4:31 before converting on a wraparound at 7 minutes.

"I squared up too much, and I couldn't get back," Fleury said. "Mistake by me there."

Hedman's ensuing tally equaled a 1-for-3 power play performance by the Lightning, while the Wild blanked on their lone chance in the first period.

Although Bogosian's first goal with the Wild avoided a shutout, the offense wasn't crisp, a showing that underscored again who's missing.

"We had some looks," Hynes said. "But I thought our execution tonight didn't allow us to play fast. I thought in particular it was more the second pass out of the zone. We had a lot of pucks in skates, missed passes, bobbled pucks. That's really when you can beat that initial part of the forecheck, and then you're on top of the circles to the red line.

"Our execution in those areas really lacked, and that didn't allow us to be able to get up and play as fast as we want to play and play a more attacking game."