TAMPA - John Carlson scored twice and goalie Dennis Hildeby turned aside 34 of 36 shots as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Minnesota Wild 3-2 Thursday, snapping a prolonged power-play drought and extending the team’s win streak to three games.

Carlson’s second goal of the night - and his first two tallies as a Bolt - came on the power play five minutes into the second period, ending Tampa Bay’s 0-for-14 start with the man advantage. Taking a Nikita Kucherov pass at the top of the circles, Carlson one-timed a shot inside the left goalpost for what proved to be the game-winner.

“They executed,” coach Jon Cooper said. “It was an authoritative power-play goal, and that’s what you wanted to see, and it turned out to be the game-winner. You’re going to need it. You can’t go the whole year without them, but they’ll get rewarded. I know they will.”

Tampa Bay built its lead early, firing 14 shots on goal in the first period to take a 2-0 advantage. Anthony Cirelli tipped an Erik Cernak shot - set up by battles down low from Jake Guentzel and Brandon Hagel - for a 1-0 lead at 5:26. Carlson then threaded a shot through traffic, with winger Gage Goncalves screening Minnesota goalie Jesper Wallstedt, to make it 2-0.

“I kind of got lucky,” Carlson said. “It was a good screen, goalie-didn’t-see-it kind of goal.”

Minnesota cut the deficit to 3-1 after Quinn Hughes scored from distance 2:32 into the second period, and Lightning alum Blake Coleman added a power-play goal late in the period to make it 3-2. The Wild pressed hard in the third, but Hildeby - making his first start with Tampa Bay - stopped all 15 shots he faced in the final frame to preserve the win. He finished with a .944 save percentage.

“It was fun just battling out there, and we did a great job keeping it tight,” Hildeby said. “The chances they had were shots off the ice, which is a pretty good recipe. Great job at the end there from everybody.”

Cooper credited Carlson’s nine shots on goal as a catalyst. “It was good for him because we need him to do that, we need him to shoot,” Cooper said. “That power-play goal is reminiscent of what we’ve seen in the past, that big bomb at the point. Hopefully that’s going to be a good trigger for us to get that power play going.”

The Lightning carry their three-game win streak on the road, beginning with a Saturday 7:30 p.m. matchup against the New York Islanders.