Point’s breakaway goal leads Lightning win

by Gary Shelton on November 14, 2021

in general

Point scored his eighth overtime goal./CHUCK MULLER

Sunday, 4 a.m.

Overtime. Brayden Point in the open ice. The puck on his stick.

For the Tampa Bay Lightning, what could be better?

Point, who has made a living in overtimes, did it again Friday night. Midway through overtime, he took an length-of-the-ice pass from teammate Ondrej Palat, broke away and then buried the game-winning goal past Sergei Bobrovski in a 3-2 Lightning win over the Florida Panthers.

Palat had stolen the puck, retreated behind the opposite net and fired a long pass to an open Point.

It was the eighth overtime goal of Point's career, two behind Martin St. Louis and one behind Steven Stamkos.

"I kind of cheated behind their D," Point said. "Pally made a great defensive play and got me the puck."

It was Point's fifth goal of the season.

"I don’t know who else in the league you’re going to take (in that situation),” teammate Ross Colton said. "He’s our best player for a reason.”

Said head coach Jon Cooper:  "You’ve seen him play for a long time He's a gamer. They're not much that kid can't do and he’ll do anything to win."

The Bolts had led 2-0 on goals by Pat Maroon and Victor Hedman, then gave up a pair of goals in 36 seconds in the second period to tie things.

“We didn’t have the puck a ton, so that part I didn’t like," Cooper said. "There were times we could have had much more poise. I think if you look back, I was like we were happy to get that game to overtime and let’s see what’s going to happen. In saying that, they had the puck more than we did in the third but they didm’t have any chances. We defended well. It seemed like only one line was generating offense in the third period."

The Bolts went to overtime for the third time in four games.

Tampa Bay is home again on Monday night against the New York Islanders. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m.



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