WINNIPEG, Manitoba _ Back and forth and forth and back. That was the way of the Lightning and Jets on Sunday.
First the Lightning led, then a tie, Jets, tie, Lightning, tie, Lightning, tie, Jets. Of course this one needed overtime for Winnipeg to get the 5-4 win.
It was one of those games where too good teams kept each other just off their games. It was a little messy, but fun to watch. Twice, the teams scored within 70 seconds of each other. And twice, Winnipeg scored in the final minute of the period to tie the game up.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper said before Thursday's game last year's Lightning team played a more run-and-gun, last-shot-wins style. That's what Tampa Bay played again on Sunday.
It didn't work out for the Lightning this time. The win streak ended at eight games, one shy of the franchise record.
Tampa Bay had a response to most everything Winnipeg pulled out on Sunday, until it didn't. Late in the third period, Nikolaj dove and got his stick on a rebound off the boards, directing it past Andrei Vasilevskiy to tie it up one more time.
Then, in overtime Vasilevskiy appeared to make one more great save, poking the puck away from Patrik Laine. However, it landed right in front of Mark Scheifele, who landed it with 41.4 seconds left in overtime. One more last-minute goal.
