Unser Chat » throughout the first two periods, stopping Zach

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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The regularly scheduled Wednesday night matchup will follow that and will now be seven innings.ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Yu Darvish showed no rust after missing three weeks. Darvish allowed seven hits over seven innings in his season debut, Elvis Andrus hit a two-run homer, and the Texas Rangers avoided a three-game sweep by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 on Sunday. "He was in control of the game," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He was using his pitches. He was throwing strikes. And thats what he does." Darvish (1-0) struck out six and walked one. Sidelined by neck stiffness, it was his first outing since a spring training game on March 16. "I didnt feel anything unusual," Darvish said through an interpreter. Darvish got his 500th career strikeout, coming in 401 2-3 innings, by fanning David DeJesus and Wil Myers in the first. According to the Rangers, it is the fewest innings for a starter to reach 500 strikeouts in major league history. Andrus put the Rangers up 2-0 with his homer off Joel Peralta (0-1) in the eighth. Donnie Murphy made it 3-0 on an RBI infield during the ninth. "Hes going to get five a year, and today was one of them," Washington said of Andrus homer. "It was huge. We needed it. Today, he drove the bus." Neal Cotts replaced Alexi Ogando for the Rangers with two on and two outs in the eighth, and struck out Matt Joyce on a 3-2 pitch. Joakim Soria pitched the ninth for his first save. Alex Cobb scattered three hits, walked one and struck out six in seven shutout innings for the Rays. "Unfortunately for us, he was really on," Cobb said of Darvish. Only one runner reached second against Cobb. &quuot;He didnt give up any pitches," Andrus said.dddddddddddd "I thought he was painting the whole game. Im really glad that we had Yu out there. He was doing the same thing for us." Tampa Bay had runners on second and third with one out in the fifth, but failed to score when Myers hit an infield pop fly and Ben Zobrist flew out. Darvish got three consecutive outs after allowing Evan Longorias double to lead off the sixth. He also worked out of a jam during the seventh after Ryan Hanigan hit a leadoff double. "We just did not get the knocks when we needed it," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. The Rays were hitless in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position against Darvish, and 0 for 11 overall. "As usual, youve got a team over there that fights forever," Washington said. "They put themselves in some good positions to score some runs, but Yu made the pitches when he had to." Notes: Darvish was activated from the 15-day disabled list and RHP Nick Martinez was optioned to Double-A Frisco. ... Rangers RHP Colby Lewis (hip surgery) gave up four runs and four hits over five innings in a rehab start for Triple-A Round Rock. ... Texas LHP Joe Saunders (bruised left ankle) is not expected to be ready for his regular bullpen session Monday and could miss his next start. ... Texas RHP Tanner Scheppers (0-0) will face Boston RHP John Lackey (1-0) Monday night in the opener of a three-games series at Fenway Park. ... Tampa Bay LHP Matt Moore (0-1) and Royals LHP Jason Vargas (0-0) are the scheduled starters for Monday nights game in Kansas City. 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