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 Tampa Bay (30-20-4) tied the score on center Steven Stamkos' 22nd
goal of the season on a six-on-four power play, then won it on
Johnson's eighth goal of the year during the first shift of
three-on-three overtime.
The Predators (25-22-8) had the game all but wrapped up until the
Lightning scored after pulling goalie Ben Bishop.
"Good teams find a way to win and we were able to get one there at
the end," said Johnson, who was skating toward a shift change when
he had an opportunity to score. "Stammer had a huge goal to tie it
up and we were able to get the two points -- that's all that
matters."
The Lightning were within a minute of losing their third game in a
row when Stamkos tied the score with 26 seconds remaining, firing a
shot past Predators goalie Pekka Rinne after the Lightning had
pulled Bishop for an extra attacker at the end of a power play in
the final minute.
Stamkos, who had just one goal in his previous 11 games, regained a
share of the team lead with his 22nd goal of the season.
"It was a goal was a long time coming for me and obviously it came
in a great situation," said Stamkos, who had fired a shot from the
same spot off the crossbar just seconds earlier. "Who knows,
hopefully it can be something that gets us going."
Nashville, which lost the lead in the second period on two goals in
two minutes, jumped back ahead with two goals in four minutes in the
third period.
Left winger Filip Forsberg put Nashville ahead 3-2 when he came in
wide, got Bishop in a low posture and flipped the puck over his back
for his 18th goal of the season with 12:14 remaining.
Tampa Bay mustered only four shots in the first 18 minutes of final
period.
"I think we were attacking the game a little more," Forsberg said of
their third-period surge. "We can't afford taking penalties and
putting ourselves in a four-on-six situation. We couldn't kill the
game there and that was frustrating."
The Predators tied the score early in the third period, with
defenseman Roman Josi feeding a beautiful pass to right winger James
Neal, who beat Bishop wide for his team-best 20th goal of the season
with 15:59 left.
Tampa Bay came into the night 21-1 when leading after two periods
and Nashville was 2-16-3 when trailing after two. The Lightning
hadn't lost three straight games in regulation since October,
putting them in the middle of a logjam in the Eastern Conference
standings.
The Lightning took a 2-1 lead into the third period after scoring
two goals in a span of 1:45 midway through the second period.
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Right winger J.T. Brown tied the score on his seventh goal of the
season, getting a shot off on a rebound in front of the net with
11:38 left in the period.
Less than two minutes later, Bishop got an assist on the go-ahead
goal, with his pass to defenseman Nikita Nesterov setting up right
winger Nikita Kucherov for his 22nd goal of the season.
Kucherov briefly moved past Stamkos for the team lead in goals.
Kucherov, watched closely by a Predators defenseman, had his shot
initially blocked by Rinne, but he poked the puck through the
goalie's legs for a 2-1 lead with 9:53 left in the second period.
Nashville had jumped out to a 1-0 lead, scoring with 10:20 left in
the first period on a shot by center Mike Fisher, who beat Bishop
for his eighth goal of the season.
Nashville outshot Tampa Bay 11-9 in the first period, with neither
team getting a power-play opportunity until nearly five minutes into
the second period.
"It's disappointing to give up one late. I feel like we could have
closed it out," Fisher said. "It's hard to get points on the road
and we'll take it, but it's not what we wanted."
NOTES: With veteran D Jason Garrison out 3-5 weeks with a lower-body
injury, the Lightning called up D Slater Koekkoek from Syracuse,
though he was a healthy scratch on Friday along with C Jonathan
Marchessault. That meant D Matthew Carle, frequently a healthy
scratch, was dressed and filling in on the blue line for the
Lightning. RW Erik Condra dressed as the final forward. ... The
Predators had D Petter Granberg and LW Austin Watson as their
scratches. ... Lightning RW Ryan Callahan played in his 600th career
game and Predators D Mattias Ekholm played in his 200th. ... The
Lightning opened a four-game, seven-day homestand. The Predators
continue a two-game, back-to-back swing through Florida, facing the
Panthers on Saturday before returning home for three games.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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