Lightning beat Jets on Point's OT goal
TAMPA, Fla. -- Brayden Point scored his third overtime goal of the season to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-3 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
Point raced in on Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and flipped a backhander into the net 36 seconds into overtime as Tampa Bay won its fourth consecutive game to cap off a perfect four-game homestand.
Nikolaj Ehlers, Andrew Copp and Kyle Connor scored for Winnipeg, which is on a season-long three-game losing streak. Hellebuyck finished with 24 saves.
Nikita Kucherov, Mikhail Sergachev and Yanni Gourde scored for the Lightning while Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 17 saves.
Winnipeg came out pressuring the Lightning in their own zone and got the quick payoff when Copp found an open lane behind Cedric Paquette. He took a pass from Adam Lowry and snapped a quick wrist shot over the shoulder of Vasilevskiy just 1:23 into the game.
But after allowing the Jets the first three shots of the game through the opening seven minutes, Tampa Bay pushed back and outshot Winnipeg 13-2 over the final 13 minutes of the period. The Lightning tied the game on Gourde's ninth goal of the season, sitting at the backdoor to tap in a pass from Point with 1:03 left in the period.
A Paquette goal was overturned for goaltender interference on Chris Kunitz in the second period, but Sergachev grabbed the lead for Tampa Bay with 3:21 left as he protected the puck on his backhand as he danced through the top of the slot before wheeling around and zipping a forehand past Hellebuyck.
The Jets tied the game with 1:58 remaining in the period when Connor got enough of his stick on a shot from Josh Morrisey for his 10th of the season.
Ehlers regained the lead for Winnipeg 7:02 into the third period, racing down the left wing side with speed before zipping a shot under the pads of Vasilevskiy. Ehlers had two more good looks to add to the lead but was robbed by Vasilevskiy. That allowed Tampa Bay to pull even as Kucherov notched his 20th of the season at 8:51 with a wrist shot through traffic.
NOTES: Lightning D Jake Dotchin was activated off injured reserve and played for the first time since suffering an undisclosed injury on Nov. 18. Dotchin missed eight games. ... Tampa Bay scratched RW J.T. Brown and D Andrej Sustr while D Braydon Coburn missed his fourth consecutive game with an undisclosed lower body injury. ... Winnipeg scratched D Tucker Poolman, C Shawn Matthias and C Marko Dano. ... Tampa Bay has a power play goal in nine consecutive games. ... Jets RW Blake Wheeler extended his scoring streak to five games. ... Nikita Kucherov reached the 20-goal mark for the fourth consecutive season.