Lightning strike late to overcome Blues
TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay overcame a two-goal deficit to win consecutive games for the first time in more than a month.
Alex Killorn scored 5:25 in to the third period as the Lightning scored five unanswered goals to defeat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 at Amalie Arena on Thursday.
Tampa Bay has won two games in a row for the first time since Nov. 17-19.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, in his first start since an injury to Ben Bishop, finished with 21 saves.
Michael Bournival, called up by Tampa Bay earlier in the day, scored his first goal in 20 months. Brian Boyle scored his fourth in the past five games. Jonathan Drouin finished off a three-point night with a pair of goals in the final two minutes.
Victor Hedman finished with three assists.
Jake Allen stopped 27 shots for St. Louis before leaving with an apparent injury with 1:40 left. Wade Megan scored the first goal of his career while David Perron picked up his ninth of the season.
After a fairly even opening 15 minutes, the Blues struck twice in less than a minute, taking advantage of two miscues by the Lightning.
Perron picked a Brayden Point saucer pass attempt out of the air deep inside the Tampa Bay zone before deking Vasilevskiy to beat him with a backhander for his ninth of the season at 14:11. An offensive zone turnover by Tampa Bay led St. Louis on a quick counterattack where Megan jumped on a rebound of a Ryan Reaves shot for his first career goal 32 second later to give the Blues a 2-0 lead.
Tampa Bay would cut the deficit in half midway through the second period on the second power-play chance of the game. After Tyler Johnson won a faceoff in the offensive zone, Jonathan Drouin collected the puck and quickly found Victor Hedman at the top of the center point position. Hedman let off a quick shot that was tipped by Boyle in front past Allen at 9:48 of the period.
The Lightning pulled even late in the second period on a sold shift from the fourth line. With the puck down low, J.T. Brown circled the back of the net to find Jason Garrison at the left point. Garrison put a wrist shot toward the net that was deflected by Bournival at 17:27 for his first NHL goal since Feb. 24, 2015, as a member of the Montreal Canadiens. That goal also came against the Blues
NOTES: The Blues placed top C Paul Stastny on seven-day injured reserve. ... St. Louis recalled C Wade Megan from the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League. ... The Lightning recalled LW Michael Bournival from Syracuse of the AHL on Thursday on an emergency basis. ... Tampa Bay C Vladislav Namestnikov was scratched due to illness. ... LW Ondrej Palat missed his third consecutive game with an undisclosed injury. He took part in Thursday's morning skate, but his availability for Friday's game at Washington was unknown. ... The Blues scratched RW Nail Yakupov, RW Ty Rattie and D Carl Gunnarsson. ... With G Ben Bishop out 3-4 weeks for Tampa Bay, Kristers Gudlevskis was called up from Syracuse. ... Lightning C Cedric Paquette was scratched, though he took part in warmups after missing the morning skate.