A high-tempo practice, turned high intensity at the Brandon Ice Sports Forum.

Lightning center Brian Boyle and defenseman Andrej Sustr got into a fight, where Sustr threw down his gloves.  

The whole team thought was joke at first until Alex Killorn had to come over and break it up. The consensus in the dressing room -practice like you play.

"That was pretty tame, I think," said Boyle.  "Nothing really much to it. I didn’t really expect to be answering questions about it thats for sure."

"Sometimes that’s gonna happen, especially in battle drills like that," said Andrej Suster.  "Just part of being professional."

"That’s good," said forward Valtteri Filppula about the brief mix-up.  "A lot of times that translates to game from practice. Nothing too serious. It’s good to have competition out there.”

They will need a fighter's mentality, while gunning for three in a row at west-leading Minnesota.  The Lightning begin a back-to-back Friday at the Xcel Energy Center.  The wild’s offense is 3rd in goals per goal. Goalie Devan Dubnyk is leading the league in save percentage.

"Arguably the best team in the league," said Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop.  "So, it’s definitely be a team we can play against and see where we’re at"

"Great goaltending," said Drouin, when asked about Minnesota's strengths.  "Fast team. They’re playing well for a reason. They’re on top of the standings for a reason. It’s a great challenge for us and we will take that to heart.”

“They’re 4 lines deep," said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper.  "Their goaltender is playing outstanding. This is gonna be a real test. It’s always been tough to play in their building. You know every night you look up and they get another two points."

Those are points the Bolts desperately need when they are looking up at everyone in the Eastern Conference. 

A run, a roll or a playoff push. Call it whatever you want. After two straight Lightning wins everyone is wondering if this is the start of an improbable climb?

"Yeah, it’s just two games," said Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin. "I guess with the season we’re having we haven’t had that much to have a swagger, but we get rolling. That’s what we want."

"We’ve got a fair amount of games left, but we’ve got a ways to go to get back in the picture," said Boyle.  "So, I don’t think anybody’s satisfied."