TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning were looking for an answer to the slow starts they’ve had this month with intermittent games in-between multiday breaks.
Facing an Edmonton team that had played eight games — winning five straight in that stretch — to the Lightning’s three, Tampa Bay knew it wasn’t going to be an easy night.
But a pair of fast-paced, aggressive practices and a full morning pregame skate gave the Lightning the right amount of reps, helping them break through Wednesday night with a 5-3 win over the Oilers.
Tampa Bay got scored first with a goal from Pat Maroon at the 11:57 mark of the first period.
Forward Anthony Cirelli fought to bring the puck down the ice before shuffling out a pass to Maroon on the left side. The veteran poked the puck toward Edmonton goaltender Mike Smith (18 saves), bouncing it off Smith’s pad and past the goal line for a 1-0 lead.
The lead only lasted about six minutes before a costly penalty from the Lightning’s Steven Stamkos led to a Connor McDavid power-play goal with 1:50 remaining in the first.
But Stamkos made up for the error, scoring a goal of his own 1:35 later for a 2-1 lead just before play expired.
The first 10 minutes of the second period saw a lot of back-and-forth between the two teams before Brayden Point gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead.
The Lightning center stole the puck from McDavid and drew a penalty from the All-Star forward as he fought his way around the back of the ice with the puck.
Nikita Kucherov then collected the puck and skated down the slot, lightly passing the puck toward the crease for Point to shove past Smith for the two-goal lead. Kucherov’s assist moved him into sole possession of fifth place among the franchise’s all-time assist leaders, surpassing Brad Richards with No. 340
Corey Perry then followed less than five minutes later on the power play, scoring career goal No. 400 — and his 14th of the season — for a 4-1 lead. The forward deflected a shot from Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to reach the milestone.
At the 17:12 mark of the period, Edmonton’s Zach Hyman cut the deficit in half with a goal, slipping the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy (27 saves) to make it 4-2.
With just over 10 minutes remaining, McDavid scored his second goal of the game, cutting the Lightning lead to 4-3. Kucherov scored an empty-netter with 3.6 seconds remaining for Tampa Bay.
