@jayRecher
Yanni Gourde scored a pair of goals, including an empty-netter with 10 seconds left, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves as the Lightning defeated the visiting Nashville Predators 5-2 on Monday night at Amalie Arena.
Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point & Steven Stamkos also scored for Tampa Bay.
The Bolts blitzed Nashville goaltender Jusse Saros early and often and found the net near the midway point of the 1st period.
Following a 2-on-1 with Stamkos that was thwarted by Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis, Palat stayed with the play and backhanded the loose puck into the open net to give the Bolts a 1-0 lead at the 9:13 mark.
Tampa Bay made it 2-0 when Gourde re-directed a pass from Tyler Johnson past Saros following a beautiful cross-ice feed from Anthony Cirelli.
It looked like the Lightning lead would be two after twenty minutes, but Point had other plans.
Executing a beautiful 2-on-0 with Mathieu Joseph, Point was able to put another one past Saros with just 0.4 seconds left on the clock to push the Tampa Bay advantage to three just shy of the first intermission.
Nashville had a golden opportunity to get back in the game in the 2nd period with a 5-on-3 power play after penalties to Erik Cernak and Mikhail Sergachev, but the trio of Cirelli, Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh stood tall and cleared the puck multiple times to keep the Predators attack at bay.
Eeli Tolvanen and Mikael Granlund scored about three minutes apart early in the 3rd period, but that was all the Nashville offense could muster against Vasilevskiy and the Bolts.
THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG : Just one game after tying Martin St. Louis for most power play points in franchise, Steven Stamkos' power play goal in the 2nd period gave him 301 points on the man-advantage and sole possession of first place. Congrats to The Captain!
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SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- Tampa Bay - Palat - (Stamkos) - 9:13
- Tampa Bay - Gourde - (Johnson, Cirelli) - 13:59
- Tampa Bay - Point - (Joseph, Sergachev) - 19:59
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - PPG - Stamkos - (Hedman, Killorn) - 7:23
3rd Period
- Nashville - Tolvanen - (Haula) - 2:53
- Nashville - Granlund - (Ellis, Josi) - 5:41
- Tampa Bay - ENG - Gourde - (Goodrow) - 19:44
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PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
- Nashville - Tinordi - (Holding) - 1:48
- Tampa Bay - Cernak - (Interference) - 4:30
- Nashville - Josi - (Tripping) - 11:54
2nd Period
- Nashville - Haula - (Interference) - 2:45
- Nashville - Cousins - (Tripping) - 6:41
- Tampa Bay - Cernak - (Interference) - 10:57
- Tampa Bay - Sergachev - (Cross Checking) - 12:13
3rd Period
NONE
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What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action on Wednesday at Amalie Arena as the welcome in the Detroit Red Wings for the first game of a two-game series. Puck drop is scheduled for 5:30pm with the pregame show starting at 4:30pm on 95.3WDAE and AM620.
PHOTO : Getty Images