Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kyle Connor scored just under two minutes apart in the third period to break open a tie game, helping the Winnipeg Jets to a 7-4 home win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
Following a wild six-goal first period and scoreless second, Winnipeg went ahead by converting its third rebound of the night as Dubois’ 23rd goal, on the power play, broke a 3-3 tie with 12:35 left in regulation.
Less than two minutes later, while short-handed, Connor went forehand to backhand on a breakaway to beat Andrei Vasilevskiy (26 saves) for his team-leading 34th goal.
Paul Stastny added an empty-netter for his second goal of the night, as did Josh Morrissey, who also had an assist for Winnipeg. Meanwhile, Mark Scheifele recorded a goal with three assists as the Jets improved to 3-1-1 in their last five.
Ryan McDonagh, Victor Hedman, Alex Killorn and Ross Colton each scored for the Lightning, who had won seven of eight overall and four straight on the road.
Fighting to stay in the playoff race in the Western Conference, Winnipeg scored 4:19 into the contest through Scheifele’s backhander, off a rebound of Logan Stanley’s shot, from the side of the net. Off another rebound less than two minutes later, Adam Lowry was in the right spot to push the puck past Vasilevskiy for a 2-0 Winnipeg lead.
Tampa Bay cut its deficit in half with 8:10 remaining in the opening period. Following a Winnipeg turnover in the neutral zone, McDonagh became the fourth Lightning defenseman to score in the last three games.
Winnipeg regained its two-goal edge with 5:24 left in the first. Stastny, who has five goals in four games, got enough of his stick on the puck off a broken play to slide it by Vasilevskiy.
But the ever-potent Lightning stormed back to tie the game with two goals in a span of 90 seconds. First, Killorn came through via a two-on-one, then Hedman faked a slap shot, skated into the slot and blew the puck by Winnipeg netminder Connor Hellebuyck (20 saves) to level the contest with 2:30 left in an action-packed first period.
–Field Level Media
