Lightning 6, Jets 5 (SO)
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning blew a three-goal lead in the final period, needed a late goal just to force overtime and still managed to escape with a win Thursday.
Center Steven Stamkos scoring the winning goal in the fifth frame of shootout to give the Lightning a 6-5 win over the Winnipeg Jets at Amalie Arena.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped four shots in shootout, and Stamkos beat Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec to salvage the win for the Lightning (31-22-4), who had lost four of five games.
Winnipeg (25-28-4) rallied to gain an unlikely point in the standings.
Tampa Bay got a flurry of three goals in the final five minutes of the first period, then saw a 4-1 lead disappear in the third period when Winnipeg surged ahead 5-4 with 5:20 to play.
Just as it looked as if an easy win had slipped away, the Lightning tied the game 24 seconds later as right winger Nikita Kucherov scored his 24th goal of the season to retake the team scoring lead and tie the game at 5-5 with 4:56 remaining.
The Lightning got a power play with 45 seconds left in regulation after a delay call for flipping the puck over the glass, but Tampa Bay couldn't take advantage and the game went to overtime. Both teams had scoring opportunities in the five-minute OT, but neither could end the game there, sending it to shootout.
The Lightning led 4-1 in the third after center Alex Killorn scored his 10th goal off a pass from right winger Ryan Callahan with 18:00 left, but Winnipeg scored four goals in a span of 7:07 against backup goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to tie the game. Center Mathieu Perreault put the Jets ahead with 5:20 left, scoring on the power play for his ninth goal of the season.
The comeback started when center Mark Scheifele scored a power-play goal -- his 13th overall on the season -- to make it 4-2 with 13:59 left. Left winger Andrew Ladd added a short-handed goal to cut the lead to 4-3 with 12:27 left.
Winnipeg came into the night tied for second in the NHL with eight short-handed goals this season, but the Lightning had allowed only three all season coming in. The Lightning had stopped 38 of 40 power plays in the previous 12 games coming in, so special teams were a strength until the third period Thursday, when they gave up two.
The Jets tied the game with 7:16 left as Ladd scored again -- this time, off the skate of Lightning forward Ondrej Palat as the puck bounced off him and into the far side of the goal past Vasilevskiy. Ladd's second goal of the period was his 15th of the season.
The Lightning jumped ahead with three goals in a span of four shots in the final five minutes of the opening period, matching their best scoring of any period all season.
Defenseman Victor Hedman got it started, scoring his sixth goal of the season -- and first at home -- off a drop pass from right winger J.T. Brown.
That goal came with 4:22 left in the first, and the Lightning struck again with 2:08 left, as center Jonathan Marchessault got his first goal since December and seventh of the season. Forward Alex Killorn stole the puck behind the goal and fed it to Marchessault, who fired a shot past Pavelec before the goalie could get in position.
The flurry continued as Stamkos scored his 23rd goal of the season with 21 seconds left in the period to make it 3-0. Stamkos scored on a rebound off a glove save by Pavelec.
The scoring burst made things easy for Vasilevskiy, who got the start to give Ben Bishop the night off before Tampa Bay goes back-to-back this weekend, at Pittsburgh on Saturday and Carolina on Sunday.
Winnipeg got on the scoreboard late in the second, with defenseman Tyler Myers scoring his sixth goal on a long, well-screened shot to beat Vasilevskiy and make it a 3-1 game with 6:15 left.
Jets coach Paul Maurice earned a bench minor for arguing a call late in the second period. Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman put a hard shoulder into center Bryan Little as he lost his balance, but the play netted the Lightning a five-on-three power play between a four-minute roughing penalty and the bench minor. Winnipeg killed off the two-man advantage, but Maurice was given a game misconduct, getting sent to the locker room at the start of the third and he continued to argue with officials.
Vasilevskiy finished with 36 saves, while Pavelec stopped 21 shots.
NOTES: The Lightning played a second consecutive game without C Vladislav Namestnikov, who suffered an upper-body injury Sunday against St. Louis. RW Erik Condra was a healthy scratch. ... Winnipeg played a second game without D Mark Stuart with an upper-body injury, while D Adam Pardy and C Andrew Copp as healthy scratches. ... The Lightning wrap up a four-game, seven-day home stand and now are on the road for six of their next seven, starting with Saturday at Pittsburgh. Winnipeg closes its own four-game road swing at the Florida Panthers on Saturday, returning home to face the Dallas Stars to open a home-and-home series with Dallas with two games in three days. ... Lightning LW Ondrej Palat had been slowed by illness but still dressed for Thursday night's game. The team has had a bout with illness, with coach Jon Cooper even limited this week.