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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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He is the longest serving catcher in Goldeyes history, having already spent five seasons with the organization. PHOENIX -- Eric Bledsoe and the Phoenix Suns are getting comfortable with playing close games. Bledsoe scored 24 points and Markieff Morris came off the bench to score 23 as the Suns pulled away from the New Orleans Pelicans 101-94 on Sunday night. "Were just a young team and we play extremely hard," Bledsoe said. "Even though things werent going our way, we fought through." Bledsoe hit a long 3-pointer with one second left on the shot clock to give the Suns a 95-85 lead with 1:25 to go. "I just locked in a little bit," Bledsoe said. "I saw time was running down and I wasnt shooting well from 3, but I locked in a shot it with confidence." Morris similarly has upped his game. He shot 9 of 12, and has gone 30 for 38 from the field over his past three games while averaging 24.7 points in that span and playing solid defence. "The first two years I couldnt play without fouling," Morris said. "I watched a lot of film and became a student of the game. I saw why I was picking up dumb fouls. Its a matter of doing the work early." Morris is only the third player since 1989 to notch three consecutive games shooting at least 75 per cent from the floor while taking at least 12 shots, joining Dwight Howard and Charles Barkley. Gerald Green scored 15 and Goran Dragic added 12 for the Suns, who have won four of five. Suns coach Jeff Hornacek became the first coach in franchise history to win his first four home games. Jason Smith scored 22 points while Jrue Holiday and Anthony Morrow each had 16 for the Pelicans. Anthony Davis, who entered the game averaging 23 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, was held to 14 and 12. "Most of the game it was easy for other guys on their team to get shots so they didnt need to feed him too often," Hornacek said. Morrows long jump shot with 6:30 remaining pulled New Orleans within 80-79, but he missed a 3-pointer that could have given the Pelicans their first lead since the final 90 seconds of the first half.dddddddddddd After Brian Roberts missed a second-chance jumper following an offensive rebound by Davis, the Suns sprinted downcourt and Morris hit a 3-pointer from the left wing. Morris added a dunk and Phoenix went on a 9-2 run to open an 89-81 lead with 3:31 to go. "Weve got to continue to stay with it," Morrow said. "These grind it out games are good for us where were the youngest team in the NBA. I think we are just ticking up. We have to keep it going." Eric Gordons 3-pointer made it a five-point game, but Dragic and Bledsoe hit 3-pointers to extend the Suns lead to ten. The Suns, who missed their first 10 3-point attempts and made only one 3-pointer through the first three quarters, went 5 of 9 from beyond the arc in the fourth. The Pelicans pulled even at 65 on a layup by Davis with 1:23 left in the third period, but Morris scored the last six points of the quarter to take a 71-65 lead into the fourth. "We just didnt have our best stuff tonight," Pelicans coach Monty Williams said. "You could complain about the whistles but thats not going to get you anywhere. We didnt make an effort to get to the basket. We fell in love with jump shots and didnt finish around the basket." NOTES: Dragic returned after missing three games with a sprained left ankle. ... Phoenix led 19-16 after the first quarter despite shooting 33.3 per cent from the floor. ... Smiths 14 first-half points matched his full-game season high and he broke the 20-point mark for the fifth time in his career. .. Morrow was the only New Orleans player to score off the bench in the first half, scoring eight points while the Pelicans other five bench players went 0 for 8 from the floor in 21 combined minutes. ... New Orleans didnt attempt a free throw in the first half. ... Bledsoes four 20-plus point games match the total he had in 197 career games entering the season. ... Phoenix has won five straight at home. ' ' '