Tampa Bay's Triplets trip Oilers
TAMPA, Fla. -- Lightning goalie Ben Bishop won his fifth consecutive start and Tampa Bay's "Triplets" line scored the first three goals Tuesday night in a 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers at Amalie Arena.
Ondrej Palat had two goals to lead Tampa Bay, which also got a goal and three assists from Nikita Kucherov and two assists from Tyler Johnson, all on the same line.
Tampa Bay (27-24-8) picked up at least a point in the standings for a seventh consecutive game, going 5-0-2 to keep close in a tight pack of teams chasing the final Eastern Conference wild card.
The Oilers (32-20-8) saw their three-game winning streak end.
Bishop needed only 20 saves on the night as the Lightning limited Edmonton to 21 shots, among the Oilers' four lowest totals of the season.
The Lightning held a 2-1 lead entering the third period.
Palat put Tampa Bay up early, beating Edmonton goalie Laurent Brossoit (24 saves) on an assist from Kucherov at 4:26 of the first period. That lead held until the second period, when Palat struck again, scoring his 13th goal of the season just 16 seconds in with a saucer pass from Johnson hitting him right on the stick in front of the net.
Bishop was in control for the first 30 minutes, but Edmonton got back within a goal on Iiro Pakarinen's first goal of the season. Pakarinen scored off a faceoff, beating Bishop at 10:17 of the second period.
Kucherov scored 49 seconds into the third for a 3-1 lead, getting his team-best 22nd goal of the season.
The Oilers looked to get within a goal just 74 seconds later in four-on-four play, but Oscar Klefbom's goal was challenged by Lightning coach Jon Cooper, and a review showed Edmonton to be offside before the goal was scored.
Tampa Bay added a goal in the final two seconds, credited to Vladislav Namestnikov, as the Oilers were called for a penalty on an empty-net breakaway.
NOTES: Tampa Bay had a single healthy scratch, D Luke Witkowski, while Edmonton had two, LW Jujhar Khaira and D Eric Gryba. ... The Oilers played the second game of a six-game road trip, with a back-to-back continuing Wednesday at the Florida Panthers. ... Edmonton gave G Laurent Brossoit his first start in exactly one month, ending a run of 10 consecutive games in net for Cam Talbot, who leads all NHL goalies with 53 games played this season. The back-to-back is Edmonton's eighth this season, and the Oilers managed only two sweeps in the first seven tries.