In Tampa, the visiting Nashville Predators got a third period goal from Roman Josi to tie the game at 2-2 and force extra time.
In the extra session, Ryan Ellis scored with less than two minutes left on the clock to complete the comeback in a 3-2 win over the Lightning.
“He’s been playing great,” Josi said of Ellis. “Obviously, the goal was a huge one tonight, but other things that maybe people don’t see, the little plays he makes back there. The way he creates space for me too. He’s unbelievable. I love playing with him.”
The Preds moved to 7-3-1.
“It’s a good team down there that we played. Our guys stuck with it for 60 minutes,” Predators head coach Peter Laviolette said. “The first 40 wasn’t where we needed to be offensively, but we played defense and eventually we got to tie it up.”
Juuse Saros made 28 saves to get his first win of the season.
“Of course it’s a big thing, every year you want to get it out of the way as fast as you can,” Saros said. “It took awhile, but it’s part of this sport. You have to handle different situations. It was nice to get the win tonight. I think everybody just battled really hard. That’s the way you’ve got to play on the road sometimes.”
Steven Stamkos and Tyler Johnson scored for Tampa Bay.
“We’ve got to be smarter. We took some offensive zone penalties, some too many men penalties. Those are just easy fixes,” Stamkos said. “We just have to dig deep a little bit and pay attention a little more to the details, and we’ll improve in those areas.”
Calle Jarnkrok also scored for Nashville.
“Missed opportunity,” Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. “It’s a game I felt we had in control from the drop of the puck until the end. That’s what’s really disappointing about it because we played well.”
[WATCH: All Predators vs. Lightning highlights]
Curtis McElhinney made 37 saves in the loss.
“It’s a tough loss, for sure,” McElhinney said. “The effort was there on everyone’s part. We played a really good game, so it’s disappointing.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.