ST. PAUL, Minn. – Dwayne Roloson stopped 29 shots against his old team and the Tampa Bay Lightning won their fourth straight, beating the Minnesota Wild 3-1 on Saturday.
Ryan Malone, Steve Downie and Sean Bergenheim all scored for playoff-bound Tampa Bay, which pulled within a point of Pittsburgh for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins played at Florida later.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored and Niklas Backstrom had 20 saves for the Wild, who saw their two-game win streak snapped and were officially eliminated from postseason contention.
Bouchard got his third point in as many games when he scored off Kyle Brodziak's rebound at 17:03 of the first period to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead. Brodziak's shot hit far off Roloson's pads right to Bouchard between the circles, and Bouchard's putback sailed over Roloson's glove into the goal.
Malone tied it at 5:09 of the second. Backstrom was hurt on the play when Wild defenseman Justin Falk knocked Malone into the net as he scored the goal. Backstrom stayed on his knees for a few minutes while being tended to by the Wild's training staff, but stayed in the game.
Tampa Bay took the lead nearly 4 minutes later when Downie slipped Simon Gagne's rebound under Chuck Kobasew's leg to make it 2-1. Bergenheim wristed a shot past Backstrom's stick at 7:58 of the third.
NOTES: Malone's goal was his first since Jan. 9. It was his second game back since suffering a mid-body injury on Feb. 12. ... Wild C John Madden suffered a lower-body injury and left the game after playing 6 seconds in the second period. ... Tampa Bay won for only the second time in six trips to Xcel Energy Center. ... Brodziak brought a loud groan from the crowd early in the third when his slap shot from the right circle hit off the post. ... Minnesota is 29-4-4 when Bouchard scores. The Wild lost for only the third time this season when leading after the first period.
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