Three straight goals, 6-0 mark

LIGHTNING 3, WILD 2: Tampa Bay overcomes an early 2-0 deficit to remain unbeaten.

TAMPA - Not all hockey victories can be found in a textbook. Not every one follows a specific game plan or script. They aren't always delivered in nice tidy packages with cute little bows.

Despite the best and tireless efforts by coaches and the robotic, monotonous practices by the players, the way victories are drawn up on chalkboards and the way they turn out on the ice often are two entirely different things.

The good news for the Lightning is both count the same.

For the first time in six games this season, the Lightning shunned conventional victory and didn't jump out to a lead Saturday. But for the sixth time in six games, it was ahead when it counted: at the end. The Lightning set a franchise record for consecutive victories by climbing out of a two-goal, first-period hole and beating the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in front of 16,223 at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Just Saturday morning, Lightning coach John Tortorella talked about his team, still taking its baby steps down the path of victory, and the method of learning to win games that come in different shapes and sizes.

A few hours later, the Lightning added a little variety to its winning ways by falling behind 2-0 to a team it never had beaten in five tries. Instead of panicking, switching gears, abandoning its game plan, the Lightning simply hunkered down and fought its way back.

"I like the way they handled themselves," Tortorella said. "They didn't break apart. It's a good test for us to see how we handled the situation being down. We haven't been there that much this year."

Not much? Try 10 minutes, 10 seconds against New Jersey.

But when the Wild scored a pair of power-play goals less than a minute apart midway through the first period, the Lightning was down by two for the first time this season.

"We knew we had plenty of hockey left," Lightning forward Brad Richards said. "Forty minutes is a long time in hockey. We felt like we were playing well. We just had to get it going."

Richards got it going, scoring the key goal only 11 seconds into the second period.

"A huge goal," said Vinny Lecavalier, who then tied the score on the power play at 15:28 of the second period.

All that was left was the finishing touch, which was provided by Cory Stillman, who scored his team-leading fifth goal at 1:14 of the third period. With the Lightning short-handed, Stillman worked a two-on-one with Tim Taylor and scored the winner by snapping a wrist shot over the left shoulder of Wild goalie Manny Fernandez.

"I was thinking about going with a one-timer, but then I decided to take the shot I wanted to take," Stillman said. "That's the one I wanted."

That's the one the Lightning needed as it became just the 14th team to start a season with six consecutive victories. What made this one so tasty, though, was it didn't come easy.

"We had to work for this one after we put ourselves in a hole," said defenseman Dan Boyle, who had a pair of assists. "This is a tough team to play against when they get the lead, but we didn't panic. That's important. It's important to win games like this when not everything goes your way."

The Wild appears to be a shadow of the team that raced to the Western Conference final last season. But though the Wild is missing key players, in particular leading scorer Marian Gaborik (contract dispute), it still plays a stifling defensive style that is practically impossible to beat when a team falls behind.

The Lightning, though, found a way.

"They think they can win," Tortorella said. "Again, they're still in the process of learning how to win. That is another part of that process."

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