Stamkos lifts Lightning past Sabres 6-5 in OT

Associated PressNov 29, 2022, 12:02 AM EST

Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Steven Stamkos scored his second goal of the game 2:44 into overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 6-5 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.

Brayden Point also had two goals, Brandon Hagel had a goal and an assist, and Corey Perry also scored for the Lightning, who rallied from two goals down in the third period to force overtime. Nikita Kucherov and Mikhail Sergachev each had three assists, and Stamkos added one for a three-point night.

Brian Elliott had 32 saves to get the win.

“We got the breaks at the end to pull us back, some big-time players got us back into it,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.

Tage Thompson had a goal and an assist, and Tyson Jost, Jeff Skinner, Jack Quinn and Dylan Cozens also scored for Buffalo. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 19 saves.

“You allow good players a little bit of extra time and a little bit of extra space, they’re going to make plays on you,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “We had hesitation in our game and it was only the last 10 minutes.”

In the extra period, Stamkos got the winner on a blast from the right circle for his 12th of the season.

“There’s going to be games where we don’t deserve the two points and tonight was probably one of those, but we’ve been on the other side of that too,” Stamkos said.

With the score tied at 3-3 to open the third period, the Sabres appeared to take control in the third with two goals for a 5-3 lead with a little more than 5 1/2 minutes remaining.

Cozens put Buffalo ahead at 9:37, ripping a shot from the right circle under the crossbar and beating Elliott on the glove side. Skinner made it 5-3 with 5:41 remaining, finishing from a tight angle after an odd-man rush was initially stopped.

However, the Lightning answered back with two goals 3 1/2 minutes apart.

Stamkos scored just 16 seconds after Skinner’s goal to get the Lightning within one. Hagel tied it with a power-play goal with 2:02 remaining. With Elliott pulled to create a 6-on-4 advantage, Kucherov’s shot from the right circle was deflected by Hagel past Luukkonen.

Point opened the scoring 7:54 into the game with a power-play goal from close range for his ninth.

Perry made it 2-0 with 3:12 left in the first off a cross-ice pass from Stamkos.

Thompson put Buffalo on the board with 2:06 left in the first, beating Elliott with some nifty stick-handling after forcing a turnover in front of the Tampa net.

Quinn evened it 59 seconds later, finishing a nice feed from JJ Peterka on a quick offensive rush.

Jost gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead midway through the second period, scoring his first goal with the Sabres after he was acquired off waivers from Minnesota on Nov. 19.

Point tied it 3-3 on the power play with 3:34 left in the second after getting a pass from Kucherov.

INJURY RETURNS

Each team had one player return from a recent injury. Sabres center Rasmus Asplund returned after missing two games with an upper-body injury. Tampa Bay forward Cole Koepke returned after missing three games with an upper-body injury.

UP NEXT

Lightning: At Boston on Tuesday night.

Sabres: At Detroit on Wednesday night.

Bergeron gets 1,000th point, streaking Bruins beat Lightning

Associated PressNov 22, 2022, 8:34 AM EST

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

TAMPA, Fla. – Patrice Bergeron got his 1,000th career point with a second-period assist and the Boston Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 Monday night for their seventh straight win.

Bergeron became the fourth Boston player and 94th in NHL history to reach the milestone with the second assist on Brad Marchand‘s goal at 15:08 that gave the Bruins a 4-1 lead.

Marchand immediately pointed at Bergeron after scoring his goal and the Boston bench emptied to celebrate with the 37-year-old center along the boards.

The other Boston players to reach 1,000 points are Ray Bourque (1,506), Johnny Bucyk (1,339) and Phil Esposito (1,012), who was at the game as a Lightning radio broadcaster. Bergeron is the 41st player to have 1,000 points with one franchise.

David Krejci, Nick Foligno, Charlie Coyle and David Pastrnak also scored for the Bruins, who improved to 17-2. Linus Ullmark made 32 saves.

Boston needs two wins to match the 1929-30 Bruins squad that started the season a franchise-best 19-2.

Nick Paul scored twice and Rudolfs Balcers had the other Lightning goal. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 shots.

Tampa Bay had won four in a row.

Foligno and Coyle scored 31 seconds apart in the second to put Boston up 3-1.

Foligno, who took a shot off the chin during the morning skate, had a rebound power-play goal at 5:07.

Coyle was credited with his in-close goal after a video review. It was originally called no-goal when the referees ruled the net had come loose before the puck cleared the goal-line.

Pastrnak, on the power play, and Balcers traded goals 11 seconds apart early in the third before Paul’s man-advantage goal made it 5-3 at 10:38.

Pastrnak has 13 goals in 15 games against Vasilevskiy, and extended his point streak to seven games (four goals, 10 points).

Paul and Krejci had first-period goals. Krejci has four goals during a three-game goal streak.

Tampa Bay outshot 9-0 over the first eight minutes of the game.

TEAMMATE HIT

Boston’s David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk collided in the offensive zone and wound up on the ice during late first-period power play. DeBrusk skated to the bench afterwards but was OK and finished with two asists.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Bruins: C Trent Frederic left with an upper-body injury.

Lightning: C Ross Colton (upper body) was scratched.

UP NEXT

Bruins: Play Wednesday night at Florida.

Lightning: Host St. Louis on Friday night.

Sergachev has 2 goals, 2 assists, Lightning beat Caps 6-3

Associated PressNov 14, 2022, 1:35 AM EST

Getty Images

TAMPA, Fla. — Mikhail Sergachev had two goals and two assists during a four-goal first period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals 6-3.

Sergachev is the first NHL defenseman to have a four-point period since Toronto’s Morgan Rielly on Oct. 15, 2019, He tied the team record for points in a period.

Nikita Kucherov, Nick Perbix Cole Koepke and Nick Paul also scored for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves. Koepke’s goal in the third was his first in the NHL, coming in his 13th game.

Tampa Bay was beaten 5-1 by Washington on Friday night.

“I thought our response today was what we needed,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “I think we learned a good lesson on how to respond. I loved our response.”

Steven Stamkos had his goal drought reach 10 straight games, but picked up two assists. The Lightning captain has 987 career points, moved past Dave Keon (986) into 98th place on the NHL list. His 499 assists moved him within one from joining Martin St. Louis (588) as the only Tampa Bay players to reach 500.

Washington star Alex Ovechkin was held without a goal for the third straight game and remains 13 away from tying Gordie Howe (801) for second all-time. He received a double minor for high sticking Stamkos during the second.

Conor Sheary, Lars Eller and Garnet Hathaway scored for Washington. Darcy Kuemper, who beat the Lightning Friday night, was pulled after allowing four goals on nine shots. Charlie Lindgren came and finished with 24 saves.

Washington assistant coach Kevin McCarthy filled in again for coach Peter Laviolette, who is in COVID-19 protocols and missed his second straight game.

“Overall, obviously, very disappointed with our effort, especially in the first period.” McCarthy said.

Sergachev opened the scoring from the blue line 1:23 into the game. After assisting on Kucherov’s power-play goal at 8:19 and Perbix’s goal just under three minutes later, Sergachev made it 4-0 on the power play with 3:38 left in the period, ending Kuemper’s night.

The Lightning went 2 for 4 on the power play, while Washington failed on six chances.

Ovechkin got the Capitals’ first shot from the high shot with 2:50 remaining in the first

Sheary got the Capitals on the scoreboard late in the second.

Koepke made it 5-1 with 6:49 left in the third before the teams combined for three goals in a 59-second stretch late. Eller pulled the Capitals back within three with 3:01 remaining, but Paul got one back for the Lightning 17 seconds later. Hathaway capped the scoring with 2:02 to go.

Koepke’s goal was not determined until a video review after teammate Brandon Hagel scored on the same shift.

“That’s a first,” Cooper said. “It was fitting in the locker room, Hagel gave that goal puck to Koepke.”

Koepke thought the puck may have hit the post as play continued.

“It feels great,” Koepke said. “Something you look forward to.”

TIME OFF

Washington forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel, assessed a match penalty for a check to the head of Lightning defenseman Cal Foote on Friday, served the first game of a three-game suspension for the hit.

“It wasn’t intentional,” McCarthy said. “It’s a fast game, obviously. You just have to live with the consequences.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Lightning: Foote is day to day. … D Erik Cernak, who had a shot from Ovechkin hit his lower leg Friday is day to day, while Sergachev played after taking an Ovechkin shot off the arm.

UP NEXT

Capitals: At Florida on Tuesday night.

Lightning: Host Dallas on Tuesday night.

Lightning and Capitals brawl, meet again Sunday in Tampa

Associated PressNov 11, 2022, 11:32 PM EST

Getty Images

WASHINGTON — While officials reviewed Capitals forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel’s check to the head of Lightning defenseman Cal Foote, Tampa Bay’s Patrick Maroon dropped the gloves with Washington’s Garnet Hathaway during the lengthy stoppage.

That was just the start of the fisticuffs as tensions boiled over Friday night between these teams, which face off again Sunday in what could be another feisty game for players with short memories.

“I don’t know about that but probably,” Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said after his team lost 5-1. “Two teams that want to win hockey games. That was a bad hit, and it set the tone for the rest of the game.”

Aube-Kubel was ejected and assessed a match penalty, which is an automatic suspension pending review by the NHL’s department of player safety. If suspended, he’d miss at least the second half of the home-and-home series, if not more for a hit Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said “defines the word blindside.”

The Lightning were none too happy with Aubel-Kubel’s hit early in the second period that knocked Foote out of the game. Maroon just didn’t wait until the next shift to express it.

“That’s what Patty does,” Hedman said. “He stands up for his teammates. He’s not going to take anything. That fired up the bench.”

A handful of other players were involved in the initial scrum, and they exchanged some pushes and shoves around the fight before Maroon and Hathaway got separated. Nick Paul hopped off the bench for a second before being urged back by Lightning teammates to avoid what would have been an automatic 10-game suspension.

The Capitals killed off all five minutes, and Sonny Milano — who was serving Aubel-Kubel’s penalty — scored coming out of the box on a breakaway 7 seconds after the Lightning power play expired.

A few Washington goals later, a line brawl erupted with 5:40 left in the third with Tampa Bay’s Corey Perry fighting Anthony Mantha and teammate Vladislav Namestnikov dropping the gloves with Washington’s Erik Gustafsson. With some roughing mixed in, the incident added up to 26 penalty minutes and finished Mantha’s second career Gordie Howe hat trick — a goal, an assist and a fight.

Expect another chippy game 48 hours later.

“I think it’s going to be the same,” said Kevin McCarthy, who coached the Capitals in Peter Laviolette’s absence. “When you play a team back to back, there’s always something that carries over from the previous game. Especially the way the game went tonight, it was physical on both sides and we expect that again.”

Hagel’s late power play goal sends Lightning past Ducks, 4-2

Associated PressOct 27, 2022, 10:27 PM EDT

Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Brandon Hagel scored the tiebreaking power-play goal with 4:27 to play in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night.

Mikhail Sergachev and Nikita Kucherov scored early goals, Nicholas Paul added an empty-net goal and Victor Hedman had two assists in Tampa Bay’s third win in four games. Brian Elliott made 19 saves for the three-time defending Eastern Conference champion Lightning, who rebounded from a loss at Los Angeles one night earlier during their three-game California road swing.

“It was tough, (because) there’s not a lot of flow on my end,” Elliott said. “They got a lucky break in the second (period) to tie it, and then we’re in a battle.”

Hagel scored a goal in his third consecutive game for the Lightning when he fired a shot past Corey Perry‘s screen and over the glove of John Gibson, who stopped 26 shots in rebuilding Anaheim’s sixth consecutive loss (0-5-1) since a season-opening win over Seattle.

“Felt good. I don’t think I’ve had a game-winner in a while,” Hagel said. “When I got the puck, the defenseman was really low and I was able to walk in. Perrs did an unbelievable job screening.”

Troy Terry had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, and Trevor Zegras scored his fourth goal as the Ducks returned from an 0-4-1 road trip with another loss. Terry and Zegras both also took high-sticking penalties in the third period.

“That’s an elite team,” Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. “They’re multiple champions for a reason, and they don’t need you to make five mistakes to score a goal. They just need you to make one. It’s amazing to watch how they play. They’re rattled by nothing. … It’s a good team to play and learn those lessons.”

Zegras put the Ducks ahead late in the first period with a vicious one-timer on a pass from Dmitry Kulikov. But Sergachev evened it later in the first with a wrist shot through traffic, and Kucherov claimed the lead for Tampa Bay 1:26 after that with a one-timer off a clever cross-ice pass from Hedman.

Anaheim struggled for shots on goal and mere possession throughout the first two periods, yet Terry still tied it late in the second when he stole the puck from Philippe Myers in the circle and whipped a quick shot for his fourth goal.

POWER OUTAGE

The Ducks went scoreless on two power play opportunities, stretching their drought to 0 for 19 since the season opener, yet Eakins saw improvement.

“Our power play looked way better, much more dangerous, and moving the puck quickly and efficiently,” Eakins said.

LINEUPS

Tampa Bay defensemen Haydn Fleury and Cal Foote were healthy scratches, with Myers and F Cole Koepke returning to the lineup from one-game absences in Los Angeles.

Anaheim F Pavol Regenda and D Nathan Beaulieu were healthy scratches, with Brett Leason and Simon Benoit drawing in. Regenda has two assists in five games after surprisingly making the Ducks’ roster out of training camp.

PERRY RETURNS

Perry returned to Honda Center for his fourth career game against the Ducks. The 2011 NHL MVP spent his first 14 seasons in Anaheim, winning a Stanley Cup ring in 2007. He is second in franchise history with 372 goals and 988 career games, and he is the Ducks’ career penalty minutes leader with 1,110.

UP NEXT

Lightning: At Sharks on Saturday.

Ducks: At Golden Knights on Friday.