Nick Paul scored 3:22 into overtime as the Lightning capped Steven Stamkos’ return to Tampa Bay by beating the Nashville Predators 3-2 on Monday night.
Paul kept the puck alive by working hard in the offensive zone and sent it to Jake Guentzel, who then fed it back to Paul past goaltender Juuse Saros (24 saves) for the winning tally and a six-game point streak. personal.
Brayden Point had a goal and an assist and Mitchell Chaffee scored as Tampa Bay improved to 4-1-0 at home. Guentzel helps two people, which gives him 500 career points. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves.
Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist scored for Nashville as the Predators earned a point for their fourth straight game.
Stamkos, who spent his first 16 NHL seasons with the Lightning before joining Nashville this season, notched his first two assists with the Predators upon his arrival in Tampa Bay.
The Lightning honored Tampa Bay’s Stamkos career on the jumbotron when the game was stopped for the first time just six minutes into the game.
The 34-year-old former captain, misty-eyed, jumped on the boards, raised his stick in thanks to the fans and skated on the thin ice as the lightning in blue stood and applauded their former centre.
“It was special, obviously, very emotional, maybe a few tears,” Stamkos said during the second halftime. “When you look back on the amazing memories. You do that early and focus on the game.”
Point, who scored 46 goals last season, hung in the first half past Roman Josi, scoring before scoring his sixth goal at 9:49 to open the scoring.
In the final minute of the frame, Chaffee pounced on a loose puck, knocked down Saros and lofted home his third goal for a 2-0 lead at 19:24.
Early in the second, the Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov appeared to score his team-leading ninth, but Nashville challenged the right winger to bring the puck offside. After a brief review, the policy was dismissed.
In the visitors’ second game, O’Reilly controlled the puck with his skirt and scored his third goal from the low post at 10:19 to cut the lead in half.
The Predators tied it at 2-all when Brady Skjei sent a long pass to Stamkos during a turnover on the Lightning’s offensive line. Stamkos then swiped his second assist from Nyquist for his third goal with 80 seconds left in the period.
–Field Level Media
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