Tampa, FL – Nikita Kucherov scored a pair of goals and Tanner Jeannot scored but the big goals came from Steven Stamkos and Luke Glendening who scored 39 seconds apart in the third period to give the Bolts a 5-4 lead. Mikhail Sergachev added an empty net goal as the Tampa Bay Lighting defeated the Edmonton Oilers 6-4 Saturday afternoon at Amalie Arena.
The win improved the Bolts to 8-6-4 on the season and it became their first victory when trailing after the second intermission this season (1-5-2). “For us to comeback as the season is fairly new, but we’ve not been a great third period team this year.” Lighting Coach Jon Cooper said. “So for us to come out and be behind [entering third period] and pull it out and push the way we did is great for our morale.”
Derek Ryan scored a pair of goals, James Hamblin scored his first NHL goal, and Evan Bouchard also scored for the Oilers who dropped their first game under new coach Kris Knoblauch. With the loss, the Oilers fall to 5-10-1 on the season.
The Lighting’s penalty kill unit deserves much of the credit for the win as the were a perfect five-for-five including holding the Oilers scoreless on a crucial power play late in the third period. “I like the way we responded on that [penalty kills], because they probably should have scored on the first one.” Cooper said. “Coaches made some good adjustments out there but the guys gamed it out.”
The Lightning were outshot 43-24, including a 20-10 deficit in the first and a 8-3 deficit in the second period, but Goalie Jonas Johansson stopped 39-of-43 of the shots to improve to 7-4-4 on the year. The Bolts improve to 2-3-4 when being outshot by the opponent.
Up Next For Bolts:
The Lightning will host the Boston Bruins in the middle game of their three game homestand Monday night at 7:00 pm EST. The Bolts will finish the homestand on Wednesday night against the Winnipeg Jets with puck drop at 7:00 pm EST.
