In the Tampa, the battle for the top spot in the Central Division was a Florida contest with Victor Hedman scoring 54 seconds into extra time to give the Lightning a 3-2 win over the Panthers on Thursday night.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves to remain undefeated on home ice.
“The puck bounced our way, and I was able to join the rush,” Hedman said. “[Killorn] made a nice play and passed it at the right time to give me a breakaway. I tried to have some patience on the breakaway, and I was able to find the back of the net.”
Patric Honrqvist and Anthony Duclair were the Panthers strikers.
Ross Colton scored midway through the third period to tie the game 2-2 for the Lightning.
“That [goal] was huge, especially with the way things are going,” Hedman said. “When you go down 2-1, it’s easy to fall back into that. Ross has been a difference maker ever since he’s been called up (from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Feb. 15). He competes hard every night.”
Tampa improved to 29-12-2.
“You’re down 2-1 in a big-time game with two pretty good hockey teams, and you find a way to tie it and find a way to win it in overtime,” Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. “The boys dug their heels in and pulled one out.”
Alex Killorn also scored in regulation for the Bolts.
“A few of us had to step up,” Killorn said. “When you look at the game, the first period wasn’t great, and they outshot us, but we found a way to win. I think a lot of them guys who were challenged and wanted to step up did so.”
The Panthers dropped to 27-12-5 with the loss.
“I looked at the schedule, and we play them [three more times] heading into the playoffs,” Panthers newcomer defenseman Brandon Montour said. “Whether we play them in the playoffs or not, we have got to get through them, or they’ve got to get through us. We have to keep building off each game until the playoffs come, and you never know what could happen there.”
Chris Driedger made 16 saves in the loss.
“I think we had a pretty solid game all around,” Duclair said. “All four lines played pretty good. We had solid goaltending. We came up short, but I think there are a lot of positives to take out of this game. It’s always going to be a grind against these guys, but I think we did a great job of sticking with them. We just have to look forward to the next game.”
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