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ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jared Spurgeon spent a month watching the Minnesota Wild from the press box. When he returned to action Tuesday night, he didnt waste any time making an impact. Spurgeon had two assists in his return from injury, Darcy Kuemper made 34 saves and the Wild defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1. One of Minnesotas top defencemen, Spurgeon was placed on injured reserve Jan. 4 after he hurt his left foot against Buffalo. While the Wild went 8-4-2 in his absence, they were eager to get him back in the lineup -- and he was eager to get back into the flow. "I think theres lots of adrenaline that helps you," Spurgeon said. "At the start I was a little nervous being off for a month, but they threw me right out there for the opening shift and that helped me really calm down and get my feet wet for that first one." Spurgeon got started early, setting up Nino Niederreiter for his fifth goal of the season 9 seconds into a power play in the first period. Early in the third, Spurgeon helped the Wild double their lead when he fed Dany Heatley in the slot for his 11th. Spurgeon ended up playing 21:12, third-most among Minnesota defencemen. "Hes taken really good care of himself while hes been out," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "To be able to come in and play at the level that he did tonight just shows you how smart of a player he is." The Lightning pulled within a goal with just more than 6 minutes to play when Valtteri Filppula tipped in Martin St. Louis pass at the goalmouth for his 20th of the season. Tampa Bay buzzed around the net the rest of the way, but Kuemper stopped Alex Killorn and St. Louis from in close, and Tyler Johnsons shot hit the post in the final 40 seconds. Lightning coach Jon Cooper was hoping to see a little more fire out of his club at the end of a 1-3 road trip. "I dont know how much courage we had going to the net tonight, until the end," Cooper said. "Hence, its shocking where our goal was scored, standing right in front of the net." While the Lightning are still clinging to second place in the Atlantic Division, goalie Ben Bishop said theyll welcome a return home for two games before the Olympic break. "I dont know if you want to say were tired, but its been a long road trip," Bishop said. "We dont want to make excuses, but weve got to be better." Bishop, who finished with 24 saves, was tested often throughout the first two periods, stopping Zach Parise on a breakaway with 5 minutes to play in the first period and stoning Mikael Granlund on a point-blank backhand early in the second. Bishop was shaken up midway through the second when Parise fired a slap shot that hit the goalie in the head, but he remained in the game. Meanwhile, Kuemper made a nifty glove save to stop Johnson on a breakaway late in the second and stood tall all night in his 11th straight start, a franchise record for rookie goalies. The Wild are 6-3-2 in that span, but Yeo was impressed with how Kuemper rebounded from his last two starts, a loss at Colorado in which he was pulled and an overtime defeat at Calgary. "How do you come back to the rink the next day and be mentally tough enough to come in and perform at the level that you need to? Thats what was very impressive about him tonight," Yeo said. "I liked his game an awful lot." While the Wild got Spurgeon back, they had another setback on the blue line 2 minutes into the game when defenceman Marco Scandella got tangled up with Johnson. Scandella skated off the ice with assistance, favouring his right leg, and did not return. Yeo labeled him "doubtful" for Minnesotas pre-Olympics finale Thursday against Nashville. NOTES: Filppula returned after missing Saturdays game at Montreal with a lower-body injury. ... St. Louis assist gave him 966 points, moving him past former Canadiens great Maurice Richard into 85th place on the NHLs career list. 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Webber, who is fifth in the championship, earned his second pole from the past three races and 13th of his career.The Winnipeg Jets have been winning games without much offense and the low-scoring club will shoot for a third straight victory when they host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. Viewers in the Jets region can watch the game live on TSN3 starting at 7:30pm et/6:30pm ct. You can also listen to the game on TSN Radio 1290 in Winnipeg starting at 6pm ct. The Jets recorded a pair of 1-0 road victories over the weekend, beating the New York Rangers in a shootout on Saturday before downing Chicago in regulation the following night. Winnipeg was credited with just nine goals during its current 4-0-1 point streak and the club is averaging only 1.75 goals per game this season. The Jets scored the only goal of Sundays game just 20 seconds into the contest, with Michael Frolik putting in the rebound from a Zach Bogosian shot. Michael Hutchinson made the early lead stand up, stopping 33 shots to earn his first career shutout in his sixth NHL game. He was awesome tonight, Frolik said of Hutchinson. After going 3-0-1 on its recent road trip, Winnipeg hopes to carry some momentum back home to the MTS Centre, where Paul Maurices club is 2-3-0 this season. The Predators, meanwhile, have won two of three games to begin a six-game road trip and are coming off Sundays 3-1 triumph in Vancouver. Filip Forsberg scored twice and to help Nashville down the Canucks at Rogers Arena and the 20-year-old now has 11 points on three goals and eight assists this season. Colin Wilson posted the other tally for the Predators, who have won four of their last six games..dddddddddddd Pekka Rinne made 26 saves to improve his record this season to 7-2-1. Rinne is expected to start tonight and he boasts a 5-0 record and a 2.39 goals against average in his career versus Winnipeg. Ondrej Pavelec expects to get the call in net for the Jets. He is 3-4-1 with a 2.19 GAA in his career against Nashville. The Preds posted a 2-0 victory in Winnipeg on Oct. 17, when Rinne turned aside 31 shots for his lone shutout of the season. Nashville has won six of the last eight meetings in this series overall and has claimed three of the last four in Winnipeg. Predators (16PTS) at Jets (13PTS) - 8PM NSH is 1-0-0 vs WPG this season, shutout win in WPG NSH has won 2 straight in WPG and 3 of past 4 WPG (6-5-1): won 2 straight, 0GA, shutout streak of 133:27 1/19 at home on PP this season Pavelec 1GP shy of 300 for his career Pavelec 3-4-1 in career vs NSH, 2.19GAA, .927sv% career game 499 for Little, 0PTS last 3GP NSH (7-2-2): 2-1-0 on road trip, 4/7 on PK 5GF in 1st pd this season 2/16 on PP last 6 games Neal and Forsberg both (2G, 2A) past 2 games Projected Jets Lines: Forward Ladd - Little - Frolik Kane - Scheifele - Wheeler Perreault - Lowry - Byfuglien Galiardi - Slater - Thorburn Defence Enstrom - Bogosian Stuart - Trouba Clitsome - Postma Goal Pavelec Projected Predators Lines: Forward Forsberg - Ribeiro - Neal Cullen - Roy - Smith Jokinen - Wilson - Beck Bourque - Gaustad - Nystrom Defence Josi - Weber Bartley - Jones Ekholm - Ellis Goal Hutton ' ' '