Saturday, February 29, 2020 04:00 PM (ET)

Lightning hold off Flames to end losing streak

Field Level Media
Feb 29, 2020

Tampa Bay's special teams scored three times in a 4-3 win over the visiting Calgary Flames on a Saturday afternoon when the Lightning announced captain Steven Stamkos would miss the remainder of the regular season.

Before its first meeting with the Flames, the organization issued a statement that Stamkos would have surgery Monday to repair a lingering core muscle injury.

The timeline for his recovery is six to eight weeks.

Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat netted power-play goals, Yanni Gourde had a short-handed tally, and Alex Killorn added a marker. Nikita Kucherov and Mikhail Sergachev each contributed two assists.

Kucherov's helpers extended his point streak to seven games (four goals, six assists), but the right wing has points in the last 19 games (14 goals, 17 assists) he has skated in -- missing the Feb. 13 contest to separate the streaks.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves to notch his league-leading 33rd victory for the Lightning, who snapped a four-game losing streak -- all in regulation -- and moved to 11-2-0 against the Pacific Division.

Elis Lindholm had a goal and an assist, and Andrew Mangiapane and Sean Monahan posted markers. Goalie David Rittich stopped 29 of 33 shots for Calgary, which went 6-7-1 in February.

Tampa Bay's power-play unit, which had been just 6-for-66 in 2020, clicked on its first of the contest in the first period. Johnson was able to tip in Sergachev's long shot at 13:52 for a 1-0 lead.

Mikael Backlund appeared to tie at 1 only 63 seconds later in a battle with Sergachev near the open net, but the play was reviewed by the officials and the goal was disallowed because of Backlund's obvious kick that sent the puck into the net.

The Lightning connected again on their second power play, using a fortunate redirection off the stick of Calgary's Derek Forbort on Palat's wrister at 7:05 for a 2-0 lead.

Gourde pushed it to 3-0 at 11:50 of the second on Tampa Bay's first penalty kill, but Mangiapane and Lindholm scored 52 seconds apart to bring the visitors to within one, 3-2. However, Killorn tallied on a breakaway -- the fourth goal in a span of 3:07 - for a two-goal lead for Tampa Bay.

Monahan scored a power-play goal with 2:49 left in regulation, but the Flames couldn't tie it with Rittich pulled and the extra skater on in the final 2 1/2 minutes.

--Field Level Media

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