Power-play strike lifts Lightning past Avalanche
TAMPA, Fla. -- Give the Tampa Bay Lightning enough chances and their power play will keep scoring.
Tampa Bay pulled away with a power-play goal in the third, its eighth straight game with at least one, in a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night at Amalie Arena.
The Lightning (20-6-2) missed on their first three power plays, but scored on the fourth as Alex Killorn got his third goal of the season and his second in the last 25 games. Tampa Bay has won three straight at home by a combined 16-6, while Colorado (12-13-2) dropped its fourth straight, giving up 16 goals in the last three.
Lightning center Steven Stamkos had a goal and two assists, moving ahead of teammate Nikita Kucherov for the NHL lead with 41 points. Backup goalie Peter Budaj picked up his second win in five starts this season, finishing with 28 saves, including 14 in the final period.
Tampa Bay added a 4-on-6 short-handed empty-net goal from Brayden Point, who sent the puck the length of the ice to put the game away with 3:19 left for his 11th goal.
The Lightning led 3-2 after two periods, thanks to a goal by Vladislav Namestnikov -- his 12th this season -- with 11:51 left in the second. Stamkos fired a pass from behind the net to Tyler Johnson, whose shot bounced wide, and the quick rebound from Namestnikov went in for the lead.
The two teams traded goals early. Colorado's Gabriel Landeskog, fresh off a four-game suspension, scored at 1:21, getting his 10th goal to beat Budaj.
That lead didn't last long as Stamkos outskated two Avalanche defenders to track down a loose puck and backhand a shot past Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov to tie the game 25 seconds later. The goal was the 12th for Stamkos.
The Lightning took a 2-1 lead with 13:36 left in the first when Chris Kunitz redirected a shot from Dan Girardi past Varlamov for his fifth goal. Again, the Avalanche answered, with Erik Johnson getting a breakaway and putting a shot through Budaj's legs for a 2-2 tie with 1:38 left in the period.
Tampa Bay, which came in as the NHL's top scoring team, led 3-2 after two periods but outshot the Avalanche 27-16n. Colorado killed off the first three short-handed situations, but the NHL's top power play converted on its fourth chance for a two-goal cushion in the third.
Namestikov added two assists.
NOTES: Lightning D Braydon Coburn missed a third straight game with a lower-body injury, while D Jamie McBain and RW J.T. Brown were both healthy scratches. ... Colorado had D Duncan Siemens, LW Gabriel Bourque and RW Nail Yakupov as healthy scratches. ... Colorado continues a four-game road trip at the Florida Panthers on Saturday, while the Lightning wraps up a four-game homestand Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets before hitting the road for their next four.