Late goal lifts Golden Knights past Lightning
LAS VEGAS -- Defenseman Shea Theodore's power-play goal with 2.3 seconds remaining lifted the Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.
It was just the second goal of the season for Theodore, who also had three assists. It came off a cross-ice pass from Jonathan Marchessault from the right point just 21 seconds after Tampa Bay defenseman Brandon Coburn went to the penalty box for grabbing the stick of Vegas forward James Neal.
Neal, Marchessault and Erik Haula also scored goals and David Perron added three assists for Vegas (22-9-2), which won for the seventh time in eight games and moved into a first-place tie in the Pacific Division with the Los Angeles Kings (21-10-4).
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 35 shots to pick up the win in net for the Golden Knights.
Victor Hedman, Steven Stamkos and Vladislav Namestnikov scored goals and NHL leading scorer Nikita Kucherov added two assists for Tampa Bay (24-7-2), which had a seven-game winning streak snapped. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy had 32 saves.
Stamkos, who came into the game leading the NHL in power-play scoring with eight goals and 20 points, wasted no time padding that total when he rifled in a one-timer from the left circle just 7:43 into the game. Namestnikov made it 2-0 with just 47 seconds left in the first period when he took on the edge of the crease and quickly turned and flipped in a shot over Fleury.
But Vegas came back in the second period to tie it at 2 with two power-play goals of its own.
Neal started the comeback when he took a pass from Perron on the right side of the net and fired in is 17th goal of the season. Marchessault then tied it with his 12th goal of the season.
The Golden Knights took a 3-2 lead early in the third period when Haula deflected Theodore's shot from the blue line, but Hedman tied it with his fourth goal of the season when his shot from the left point got past Fleury, who appeared to be screened on the play, setting the stage for Theodore's dramatic game-winner.
NOTES: Tampa Bay D Jake Dotchin and C Tyler Johnson were both scratched with the flu. RW Ryan Callahan also missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury suffered Dec. 14 at Arizona that is expected to keep him sidelined 3-4 weeks. ... Vegas scratched LW Tomas Hyka, D Brad Hunt and C Ryan Carpenter. ... Kucherov's assist on Stamkos' opening power-play goal was the 150th of his career. ... Marchessault's goal was the 50th of his career and also his 100th career point. ... Tampa Bay returns home to open a four-game homestand on Thursday against Ottawa. Vegas concludes a five-game homestand on Saturday against Washington.