chrism
11-23-2009, 11:58 PM
ATLANTA — Steven Stamkos scored his 15th goal at 2:56 of overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning their second straight win, 4-3 over the Atlanta Thrashers on Sunday.
The Thrashers, who ended five-game homestand with three straight losses, tied it 3-3 on Slava Kozlov's second goal and rookie Evander Kane's seventh during a 1:52 span late in the third period.
But Stamkos, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 draft, ended the game by taking Martin St. Louis' pass from the left circle and beating Atlanta goaltender Ondrej Pavelec with a tip-in.
Lightning goaltender Antero Niittymaki, who has won 15 straight against the Southeast Division and three of four overall, improved to 15-0-0 in his career against Atlanta.
Niittymaki stopped 28 of 31 shots to show why he began the game leading the NHL with a 1.93 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage.
Improving to 6-1-3 in his first season with Tampa Bay, Niittymaki didn't face a shot in overtime.
Stephane Veilleux's first goal of the season gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead 5:45 into the second. With just 24 seconds left in the period, Ryan Malone used a wrister to score his 14th goal and put Tampa Bay up 2-0.
Atlanta made it 2-1 on Tobias Enstrom's third goal, a wrister from the slot, with 14:31 remaining.
Defenseman Kurtis Foster put the Lightning ahead by two goals again, however, with his first goal. Foster's slap shot was the game's only power play goal.
The Thrashers, who ended five-game homestand with three straight losses, tied it 3-3 on Slava Kozlov's second goal and rookie Evander Kane's seventh during a 1:52 span late in the third period.
But Stamkos, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 draft, ended the game by taking Martin St. Louis' pass from the left circle and beating Atlanta goaltender Ondrej Pavelec with a tip-in.
Lightning goaltender Antero Niittymaki, who has won 15 straight against the Southeast Division and three of four overall, improved to 15-0-0 in his career against Atlanta.
Niittymaki stopped 28 of 31 shots to show why he began the game leading the NHL with a 1.93 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage.
Improving to 6-1-3 in his first season with Tampa Bay, Niittymaki didn't face a shot in overtime.
Stephane Veilleux's first goal of the season gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead 5:45 into the second. With just 24 seconds left in the period, Ryan Malone used a wrister to score his 14th goal and put Tampa Bay up 2-0.
Atlanta made it 2-1 on Tobias Enstrom's third goal, a wrister from the slot, with 14:31 remaining.
Defenseman Kurtis Foster put the Lightning ahead by two goals again, however, with his first goal. Foster's slap shot was the game's only power play goal.