Stamkos’ OT winner lifts Bolts past ‘Canes

by Gary Shelton on March 30, 2022

in general

Stamkos scored his 30th goal of the season./TIM WIRT

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

Yeah, the Tampa Bay Lightning acted like they had seen the building before.

The locker rooms looked familiar. There was something about the tunnel that brought back memories.The banners all looked the same.

Ah, yes. Amalie Arena. And isn't it good to be back home again?



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The Bolts, road warriors as of late, returned to their home building Tuesday night and pulled out a 4-3 overtime win over Carolina. The Bolts trailed throughout the game, at 1-0, at 2-1 and at 3-2, before Steven Stamkos -- who looks kind of familiar himself -- ended the game with a power-play goal 52 seconds into the extra period.

It was the 20th home win for the Lightning this season.

It was the 11th career overtime goal for Stamkos, a team record. Stamkos

reached 30 goals for the season. Stamkos has been above 30 six times in his career, but this was his first time in four seasons getting there.

Stammer's goal was one of several highlights for the Bolts. For instance:

-- Alex Killorn scored his 21st goal, the second highest mark of his career.

-- Victor Hedman scored his 19th, a personal high and one short of Dan Boyle's team record for goals by a defenseman.

-- Nikita Kucherov had three assists, including a pass to Stamkos to set up the winning goal.

-- And Stamkos ended the game, his eighth game-winner of the year. Stamkos also had two assists in the game.

"I thought it was one of our more complete games," Stamkos said. "A huge part of tonight's win was the power play and the penalty kill. That was the difference-maker tonight."

Tampa Bay had 31 shots in all.

"We responded well," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We were down pretty much all game until the end. So, you've got to keep fighting your way back and not get frustrated. I thought we did that."

Andrei Vasilevskiy won his 33rd game of the season.

The Bolts are home against Chicago on Friday night. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

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