Lightning Ends Panthers Winning Streak

     The Tampa Bay Lightning ended the Florida Panthers six-game winning streak as they topped the Cats 5-4 in overtime at Amalie Arena on Tuesday night. It was the only game of a three-week, 12-game stretch that the Panthers will not play a home game. The Lightning continue to have the best record in the NHL.
     Tampa Bay(46-17-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 10:24 of the first period as Yanni Gourde scored. Andrej Sustr and Anton Stralman had the assists on the play. The Bolts make it 2-0 on a high backhand shot from the slot by J.T. Miller over Roberto Luongo at the 12:51 mark.
     Florida(32-35-7) climbed out of the hole with 1:37 left in the first. Aaron Ekblad had the puck on the right wing and left it for Nick Bjugstad in the right corner. He released a wrist shot from behind the goal line off Andrei Vasilevskiy and into the net.
     Things remained the same as the Lightning struck early in the second period at 1:27. Gourde put in his second goal of the contest, which was unassisted, and 24th goal of the campaign.
     The Cats got within one goal with 6:25 left in the frame as Bjugstad scored for his sixth multi-goal game in his NHL career. Evgenii Dadonov cycled the puck down the left wing to Bjugstad on the end wall. He pivoted toward the left of the crease and scored from close range.
     The Bolts moved back to a two-goal margin with 3:53 to go. Alex Killorn put in a tally with assists by Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov.
     Bjugstad picked up the hat trick with his third goal of the game 21 seconds into the third period. Mike Matheson and Barkov were credited with assist on the play. It was the 14th goal of the year by Bjugstad.
     The Panthers were able to tie the contest 4-4 on the power play at 5:30. Barkov angled a pass back to Keith Yandle at the top of the zone. He connected a pass to Vincent Trocheck in the right circle and he snapped a shot for his 25th goal of the season.
     The game had to be decided in overtime. Tyler Johnson sent the puck from the left corner to Stralman at the top left circle. He found Brayden Point in the right circle, faked a shot around Dadonov then scored on a top-shelf wrist shot at 2:49 for a Tampa Bay victory.