The Tampa Bay Lightning stunned the Vegas Golden Knights with two goals in the final two minutes of the game to steal a 4-3 win at AMALIE Arena on Thursday night.
The Lightning improved to 3-0-0 this season with the victory.
Tampa Bay tied the game 2-2 with 13 seconds left in the first period on Nikita Kucherov’s fifth goal in three games—the second most goals in franchise history across the first three games by a Bolts player (Chris Kontos, six in 1992-93)—before Vegas scored the only goal of the second period.
Brandon Hagel scored the game-tying marker with 2:22 left in the game, and Nikita Kucherov tied Kontos' record with his second goal of the game and sixth of the season in the final minute. Kucherov scored when he flung a puck toward the net from the right corner, a pass that deflected off a Vegas defender and into the net for the game winner.
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 22 saves.
The Lightning are now set to head to Canada for the first time this season as the Bolts visit the Ottawa Senators (2-1-0 this season) on Saturday for a 1 p.m. ET Atlantic Division matinee at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Tampa Bay is 50-55-11 all-time against Ottawa, including 22-31-5 on the road.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
VGK 1, TBL 0
5:26 Brayden McNabb (1) – Mark Stone, Jack Eichel
Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb opened the scoring 5:26 into the game. McNabb dragged the puck around a Lightning player near the top of the left circle before sending a shot into the top corner of the net.
VGK 1, TBL 1
10:21 JJ Moser (1) – Cam Atkinson, Emil Lilleberg
Offseason acquisition JJ Moser became the first player of Swiss descent to score for the Lightning, doing so midway through the first period after winning a loose puck battle and batting a bouncing puck five-hole through the pads of Vegas goalie Adin Hill.
VGK 2, TBL 1
15:20 Pavel Dorofeyev (2) – Shea Theodore, Eichel – PP
Vegas took advantage of a first-period power play, as Dorofeyev slipped a slap shot past Vasilevskiy from the right circle.
VGK 2, TBL 2
19:47 Nikita Kucherov (5) – Jake Guentzel
Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel connected on a 2-on-1 with 12.8 seconds remaining in the first period to enter the intermission tied. Kucherov found Guentzel just outside the offensive zone, driving to the back post. Guentzel sent a saucer pass over Vegas defender Alex Pietrangelo and Kucherov one-timed his fifth goal of the season.
Shots: VGK 10, TBL 9
2nd Period
VGK 3, TBL 2
1:59 Ivan Barbashev (4) – Shea Theodore
Vegas reclaimed the lead less than two minutes into the second period. The puck deflected off the skates of two different Lightning players and landed on the tape of Ivan Barbashev near the right post.
Shots: VGK 9, TBL 10
3rd Period
VGK 3, TBL 3
17:38 Brandon Hagel (2) - Mitchell Chaffee, JJ Moser
Brandon Hagel scored his second goal of the season to tie the game 3-3. Hagel took a pass from defenseman JJ Moser in between the tops of the circles and ripped a shot high blocker past Hill.
TBL 4, VGK 3
19:05 Nikita Kucherov (6) – Victor Hedman, JJ Moser
The Lightning shocked the Golden Knights with the game-winning goal coming with 55 seconds left in the game. Nikita Kucherov scored his second goal of the game when he shoveled the puck toward the net from the right corner and it bounced into the net off a Vegas defender.
Final shots: VGK 25, TBL 25
