@jayRecher
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Victor Hedman scored with 2:15 left in overtime & Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves for his 25th win of the season as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Tuesday night at Amalie Arena in their last game before the All Star break.
Hedman threw a seemingly harmless wrister towards San Jose netminder James Reimer, but somehow it found its way through traffic and into the net to send the fans home happy.
Hedman, Vasilevskiy and the captain Steven Stamkos will represent the Lightning at the All Star Game this weekend in Las Vegas.
Anthony Cirelli & Alex Killorn also scored for Tampa Bay.
It was a pretty even 1st period, no goals were scored, but the Lightning did outshoot the Sharks 9-7.
The 2nd period was a different story.
Brayden Point was absolutely flying into the San Jose zone and as he deked to the left of Reimer, Point slipped the puck back to Cirelli & he slid it into the open net to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead just 92 seconds into the period.
Unfortunately, the Lightning's lead didn't last long.
Veteran defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic threw a shot on net from the point that was deflected past Vasilevskiy by Rudolfs Balcers just over three minutes later to tie the score at one apiece.
Killorn gave the Lightning the lead with a power play just under two minutes left in the 2nd, on a really heads up - or should I say, hands up - play.
As Stamkos tried to make a cross-ice pass, the attempt was deflected in the air right to Killorn in front. Killer batted the puck down with his hand and then turned & fired one past Reimer to put the Bolts ahead 2-1 with 1:52 left in the 2nd.
San Jose answered back with a power play goal of their own early in the 3rd, when Logan Couture tipped in a Brent Burns shot at 1:12 to tie the game 2-2. The goal came after a questionable tripping call on Stamkos that the fans at Amalie were not particularly fond of.
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SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
NONE
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Cirelli - (Point, McDonagh) - 1:32
- San Jose - Balcers - (Vlasic, Couture) - 4:50
- Tampa Bay - PPG - KIllorn - (Stamkos, Hedman) - 18:08
3rd Period
- San Jose - PPG - Couture - (Burns, Barabanov) - 1:12
Overtime
- Tampa Bay - Hedman - () - 2:45
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PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
- San Jose - Meloche - (Cross Checking) - 2:07
- Tampa Bay - Rutta - (Interference) - 10:58
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Foote - (Interference) - 11:58
- San Jose - Balcers - (Delay of Game) - 16:02
- San Jose - Couture - (Hooking) - 17:51
- San Jose - Meier - (Goalie Interference) - 18:24
- San Jose - Meier - (Roughing) - 18:24
- Tampa Bay - Cirelli - (Roughing) - 18:24
3rd Period
- Tampa Bay - Stamkos - (Tripping) - 0:31
Overtime
- San Jose - Meier - (Unsportsmanlike Conduct - Embellishment) - 2:06
- Tampa Bay - McDonagh - (Tripping) - 2:06
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What's Next For The Bolts : This is the final game for the Lightning before the All Star Break. The Bolts are back in action on February 10th in Colorado against the Avalanche. Puck drop is slated for 9:00pm with the pregame show starting at 8:30pm on NewsRadio WFLA & Lightning Power Play.