Kings rebound fro Lightning rally, down Tampa, 4-3, in OT Gavrikov wins it with OT strike

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In Los Angeles, Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos scored off the power play at 15:25 of the third period, and again with 46 seconds left on the game clock to tie the Kings, 3-3, and force extra time on Saturday night.

Vladislav Gavrikov rescued the Kings when he scored 25 seconds into the extra session to give them a 4-3 win over the Lightning.

“Kind of a cat and mouse behind the net to start, but once [Anze Kopitar] got it up to ‘Juice’ (Kempe), I honestly didn’t even look, and next thing I know, he was flying,” the Kings’ Mikey Anderson said. “Good read by him to jump in, good play by Juice and great finish by ‘Gabby.’”

Cam Talbot made 22 save in the win.

The Kings moved to 37-22-11 off their third straight win.

LA took a 1-0 lead on a strike by Adrian Kempe at 7:03 of the opening stanza, scoring from the crease.

Brayden Point was credited with a goal after the puck deflected off LA’ Matt Roy and into the net to tie the game, 1-1, with six seconds on the clock in the first.

The Lightning dropped to Lightning 38-25-7.

“A game that didn’t look like we were going to get anything out of, we were able to crawl back and get a point,” Stamkos said . “So, you talk about collecting as many points as you can.”

Trevor Moore restored the Kings lead, 2-1, at 2:18 of the middle frame, scoring off a rebound with a backhand shot.

“In the room, we know what we have and how good we can be if we do it the right way consistently and together,” Anderson said. “Obviously, if we have things going the right way, we like our chances against anyone. They’ve had a lot of success the last couple years, so they’re a good team to test yourself against. They know how to win, so being able to come out and play that well against them, we’re moving the right way.”

Anderson extended the advantage to 3-1 with 72 seconds gone in the third period, setting up Stamkos’ late game heroics.

“Figured I’d be better off trying to shoot than trying to make a play, and happy it went in,” Anderson said. “We don’t get those very much as D-men, so it’s obviously a different situation than we’re in, but it’s fun.”

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves in the loss.