Steven Stamkos scored Tampa Bay’s third power-play goal 52 seconds into overtime as the Lightning opened a four-game homestand by topping the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Tuesday night.
Stamkos, who also had two assists, popped in his team-leading 30th goal on a give-and-go play in the slot with Nikita Kucherov after Carolina’s Jordan Staal went off for holding Stamkos 26 seconds into the extra session. It was Stamkos’ 11th career overtime winner, the most in team history.
Brayden Point recorded a power-play goal and an assist, tying Tyler Johnson for 10th place among the franchise’s all-time scoring leaders.
Alex Killorn also netted a power-play goal, and Victor Hedman added a marker.
Kucherov dished two assists — both on the man advantage — to give him 201 career power-play points. Andrei Vasilevskiy (34-14-4) stopped 16 shots as the Lightning won for the first time in three games against Carolina (1-1-1).
By winning their third straight game, the Lightning reached the 20-win mark at home for the 18th time (20-6-4).
Tampa Bay went 3-for-4 on the power play against the NHL’s top penalty-kill unit.
Rookie Seth Jarvis scored and had an assist, and Nino Niederreiter and Sebastian Aho also found the net. Backup goalie Antti Raanta stepped into the crease and made 28 saves for the Hurricanes, who are 3-0-2 in their past five games.
In the final regular-season matchup between the Eastern Conference powers, the Lightning owned the territorial advantage early. Carolina failed to record a shot until almost eight minutes into the contest.
But operating behind Vasilevskiy’s goal, Staal slid a pass into the low slot, and Niederreiter chipped in his 21st tally of the season at 7:59.
Playing its ninth set of back-to-back matches, the Metropolitan Division’s top club held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes despite being outshot 10-4.
Opening the second period on its second man advantage, the home side leveled the match at 1 when Killorn whipped in his 21st goal just 52 seconds into the frame.
Nearly eight minutes later, Carolina regained its one-goal lead when Jarvis potted his 13th, but Hedman added to his career-high goal total when he zipped home his 19th from the slot to tie the game again.
With 3:13 left in the second, Aho tipped Tony DeAngelo’s backhander in for a 3-2 edge — reaching the 30-goal mark for the third time in his six-year career.
In the third, Point scored his 25th — a second power-play tally for Tampa Bay — at 6:02 for a third tie.
–Field Level Media
