Seemingly by design, the Lightning blew a 2-0 lad at home on Thursday to the Nashville Predators, then scored three unanswered goals in the third period to take a 5-2 win.
Brayden Point hit for a double in the win, including the first goal of the game, and the first goal of the third period outburst.
Brian Elliott made 34 saves in the win.
“All he’s doing is winning games for us,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said of Elliott. “He’s making the big saves for us when we need them. He keeps us in it, and tonight we gave him a little run support.”
Point and Corey Perry scored in the first period for Tampa.
After falling behind in the first, 2-0, the Preds picked up goals from Mark Jankowski in the first, and Alexandre Carrier in the middle frame to tie it, 2-2.
“We know that coming here they are going to be fast and start strong in their building,” Carrier said. “It caught us a bit off guard, but we had chances in the second.”
Nashville dropped to 12-10-2.
Point restored the lead early in the third, and Nicholas Paul pushed the advantage back to two at, 4-2.
Brandon Hagel hit for a shorthanded goal in the 16th minute of the third for the 5-2 final.
“I’ve had how many breakaways and of course that one goes in,” Hagel said. “Finally got it out of the way. I feel like we aren’t cursed anymore.”
“We were pressuring them hard,” Jankowski said. “… On that one they flubbed the pass a little bit. … They kind of shaded to [Yakov Trenin], so I had the shot.”
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Juuse Saros made 27 saves in the Nashville loss.
“The game was in the balance [at] 2-2,” Nashville coach John Hynes said. “We gave up an odd-man rush and we turned the puck over. We didn’t have the attention to detail in the third period.”
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