Lightning 2, Kings 1 (SO)
TAMPA -- Centers Jonathan Marchessault and Valtteri Filppula scored Tampa Bay's first shootout goals of the season, giving the Lightning a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in the tiebreaking skills competition on Wednesday night at Amalie Arena.
The Lightning (11-9-3) had gone 0-for-6 in two shootouts before Wednesday, but Marchessault and Filppula beat Kings goalie Jonathan Quick for goals after a 1-1 tie through overtime.
Lightning goalie Ben Bishop stopped two of three shots from the Kings (13-8-1) after making 37 saves entering the shootout.
Neither team scored until early in the third period, when Lightning center Tyler Johnson made a move skating to his right and beat Quick to the left, giving Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead with 14:03 left. It was Johnson's fourth goal of the season, coming in his first game back after missing time with an upper-body injury. After going scoreless in October, Johnson has four goals in November, and Wednesday's was one of his biggest.
Los Angeles tied the game with 5:23 left, as left winerg Milan Lucic scored his seventh goal of the season, a well-screened shot that went through center Brian Boyle and slipped between the legs of Bishop, who had stopped the first 31 Los Angeles shots as he sought back-to-back shutouts for the first time in his career.
The Kings and Lightning had both struggled in low-scoring games this season -- Los Angeles had scored at least two goals in 18 straight after opening the year 0-3 while scoring one or less; the Lightning were 0-8-1 coming in when scoring one or no goals.
NOTES: The Lightning got C Tyler Johnson back after missing three games with an upper-body injury, though they're still without three key forwards in LW Ondrej Palat (out seven games, lower body), C Cedric Paquette (out four games, upper body) and LW Jonathan Drouin (four games, undisclosed). ... Tampa Bay went with 11 forwards and seven defenseman, dressing D Luke Witkowski and making RW Joel Verman a healthy scratch ... Los Angeles had D Derek Forbort and C Jordan Weal as healthy scratches ... The two teams play twice this season, with the series wrapping up in 11 days in Los Angeles on Dec. 6. ... Los Angeles wraps up a five-game road trip, heading home for their next four, starting with Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks. Tampa Bay has four of its next five on the road, starting with a game Friday at the Washington Capitals.