Center Brayden Point scored his third overtime goal of the season & Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made two crucial third period saves, helping the Lightning to a 4-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets & giving Tampa Bay its league-leading 13th home win of the season.
This game unfortunately for Tampa Bay started similar to their last game vs Colorado when with under 90 seconds gone again, the visiting team jumped out to a 1-0 lead. This time Center Andrew Copp scored putting the puck high past Vasilevskiy while the Lightning were caught off guard.
It wasn't until nearly 10 minutes were gone in the first period the Lightning applied pressure to the Jets enough to where Tampa Bay controlled the puck in their offensive zone & Winnipeg was forced to take a penalty. With the ensuing Lightning power play, the NHL leaders in power play percentage continued with the pressure, had several good chances but were unable to get the puck past Jets Goalie Connor Hellebuyck.
The Lightning continued outshooting the Jets up until just under three minutes left in the period, but that's when Winnipeg again put the league leaders in power play percentage on the man advantage & this time on their second chance of the night, the Lightning tied it up at one with a pretty set up from C Brayden Point to Rightwing Yanni Gorde right in front of the net, for Gourde's 9th goal on the season.
The Lightning outhshot the Jets 13-5 in the 1st period. The second period started with both teams taking a two minute penalty at the 1:59 mark of the period. The shots in the period were 2-2 even after the Lightning had the first power play of the period. But less a minute after that power play ended, it looked like the Lightning took a 2-1 lead when Center Cedric Paquette followed a shot from the point from Defenseman Anton Stralman & shot it past Hellebuyck. But the Jets challenged that there was goalie interference & the challenge was upheld making the game tied at 1 again.
Neither team had great scoring chances until with less than four minutes left to go in the period, the Lightning line of Point, Leftwing Ondrej Pallat & Center Tyler Johnson kept the puck around the Winnipeg net. The puck eventually went up the left side of the boards where Palat got it to Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who spun around & shot the puck past Hellebuyck from about 25 feet out in between the circles. Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, the one goal lead lasted less than two minutes after Winnipeg Center Mark Scheifele tipped in a shot from the point past Vasilevskiy.
The third period started with Tampa Bay owning the advantage in shots on net 21-11. But with just over seven minutes gone in the period, the Jets mounted some pressure & eventually took another one goal lead after Ehlers got the puck past Vasilevskiy. The one goal lead could have been even more if not for one, but two great saves by Vasilevskiy on Ehlers. And those saves gave the Lightning their chance to tie the game up again on one shot & they did just that when Rightwing Nikita Kucherov shot a blast while Hellebuyck was partially screened.
Minimal chances for both teams took us into overtime where the Lightning came out with a quick push. But the game-winner came when Point won a faceoff then got the puck back from Stralman, got around a Jets' defenseman & moved the puck to his backhand then shot the puck past Hellebuyck for the game-winner.
The Lightning take their four game-winning streak to the West Coast for a four game seven day trip starting with Tuesday at St. Louis vs the Blues. Coverage begins on 970 WFLA at 7:30PM, with the puck dropping at 8PM.
SCORING SUMARY1ST PERIOD
1. WPJ - Copp - (Lowry, Tanev) - 1:21
2. TBL - PPG - Gourde - (Point, Johnson) - 18:57
2ND PERIOD
1. TBL - Sergachev - (Johnson, Palat) - 16:39
2. WPJ - Scheifele - (Connor, Morrissey) - 18:02
3RD PERIOD
1. WPJ - Ehlers - (Trouba, Laine) - 7:02
2. TBL - Sergachev - (Dotchin, Stamkos) - 8:51
OVERTIME PERIOD
1. TBL - Point - (Stralman) - 00:36
PENALTY SUMMARY1ST PERIOD
1. TBL - Dotchin - (Hooking) - 4:14
2. WPJ - Wheeler - (Tripping) - 10:36
3. WPJ - Chiarot - (High Sticking) - 2:52
2ND PERIOD1. WPJ - Ehlers - (Hooking) - 1:59
2. TBL - Namestnikov - (Slashing) - 1:59
3. WPJ - Ehlers - (Hooking) 9:19
3RD PERIOD
NONE
OVERTIME PERIOD
NONE