The Backcheck: Lightning end back-to-back with comeback victory

The Tampa Bay Lightning fought to earn three standings points this weekend despite trailing in each of their back-to-back games on the road, a trip that culminated with a comeback victory in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The Lightning tied Saturday’s game against the New Jersey Devils in the third period before falling 3-2 in overtime.

They followed the effort with a 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday behind a big night from leading scorer Nikita Kucherov, who sits third in the NHL scoring race with 62 points in 39 games.

Tampa Bay has earned standings points in four straight games and improved to 23-15-3 this season. The Lightning end their three-game road trip against Boston (21-19-5) on Tuesday.

Lightning fight late to grab single standings point Saturday

The Tampa Bay Lightning fought back to earn a standings point on Saturday in a 3-2 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils.

Kucherov forced the extra period with his game-tying goal midway through the third before New Jersey won the game on an overtime power play.

“I think it was a game with probably two faces,” captain Victor Hedman said. "I think they had the first period, Vasy (goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy) kept us in it. Even in the second too, but in the third period we tilted the ice, tied the game and had a lot of good looks to end it, too. But at the end of the day, it’s a step in the right direction on the road.”

New Jersey opened the scoring 8:10 into the game on a tipped shot by forward Ondrej Palat, but the Lightning tied it on Hedman’s sixth goal of the year less than two minutes later.

Hedman’s goal came on a shot from the left side of the blue line, one that beat New Jersey goalie Jacob Markstrom to find the top half of the net after a faceoff win by Tampa Bay's Nick Paul.

Jack Hughes restored the home team’s lead with 4:44 left in the second period. Hughes took the puck near center ice, skated to the top of the circles and sent his shot into the netting for a 2-1 lead.

Kucherov tied the game with his goal just prior to the midway mark of the third period. Kucherov accepted a touch pass from Brandon Hagel at the offensive blue line before scoring on the breakaway to tie the game 2-2.

The Lightning outshot New Jersey 9-1 in the third period to force overtime, when a 4-on-3 New Jersey power play ended with the game-winning goal by Devils forward Stefan Noesen.

“We battled. Got a point,” Lightning forward Luke Glendening said. “Didn’t have our best game in the first two periods but thought we played pretty well in the third. Unfortunate way to end it, but hopefully something we can build on.”

Vasilevskiy finished with 23 saves, which included multiple stops on rush chances for New Jersey early.

“It was a tale of two games,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It ended up going to overtime, probably the way it should’ve. Unfortunately, we took the penalty, and even that was on a broken play. So we’d done everything right on the PK for a minute and a half, and they get the break and the guy scores.”

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Jack Hughes, NJD (Goal, assist)
2. Jacob Markstrom, NJD (23 saves, W)
3. Nikita Kucherov, TBL (Goal)

Johansson, Kucherov push Bolts over Penguins

Sunday night was again down to the wire for the Lightning, but it was the visitors who left victorious thanks to Kucherov’s late flash of talent and a strong night from goalie Jonas Johansson.

Tampa Bay won 5-2 behind Kucherov’s breakaway goal with 3:03 left in regulation. The forward had two goals and an assist to lead all players on Sunday, the team's third game in four days.

“Our best player stepped up, and that was Kuch,” Hagel said of the winning goal before applauding Kucherov’s work ethic. “Hats off to him. He can change a game, and he did tonight.”

Tampa Bay is amid a busy January, but the Lightning “weathered” a strong initial push by the Penguins—Pittsburgh outshot the Lightning 14-2 in the first period and led 1-0 after a bouncing puck found forward Rickard Rakell in front of the net.

“It’s hard when you’re not in it and to see what the players go through—and it’s not just us, it’s all the teams. We’re three (games) in four (nights), we get to the hotel room at 2 o’clock in the morning and then we gotta be in here at 3 for a 5 o’clock game, and it’s tough,” Cooper said. “As a coach you just get to stand there but you know what these guys are going through, and we had to weather it.”

Johansson made 13 saves in the first period and stopped 10 more shots in period two, when the Lightning found some offense.

Hagel tied the game 6:54 into the second period with some shine—Hagel accepted a pass at center ice, rushed into the offensive zone and faked an inside pull with the puck before pushing back to the outside around Pittsburgh defenseman Erik Karlsson and roofing the puck into the top right corner of the net for his 20th goal of the season.

“He’s been doing it all year,” Tampa Bay forward Anthony Cirelli said of Hagel. “He makes a pretty special play up the ice with the move and the finish, and I thought that brought a lot of life to our group in a game that not much was going for us. I thought that was a big spark for us.”

Kucherov’s first goal of the night gave the visitors their first lead, making it 2-1 with 3:56 left in the second period. Kucherov fired a one-timer from above the face-off circles through the glove of Pittsburgh goalie Tristan Jarry.

After Pittsburgh tied the game 2-2 with Kevin Hayes’ power-play goal 2:17 into the third period, Kucherov again broke the tie with his second goal of the night and 20th on the year.

Kucherov stripped Pittsburgh forward Noel Acciari of the puck at Tampa Bay's offensive blue line, burst in alone on Jarry and shot the puck into the left half of the net for a 3-2 lead with 3:03 to play.

Cirelli and Nick Paul added empty-net goals for insurance and a 5-2 win. Cirelli (goal, assist) joined Jake Guentzel (two assists) and Hagel (goal, assist) as Bolts with two-point nights.

Johansson earned his fifth win of the season with 31 saves. Cooper, Cirelli and Hagel all credited their goalie for keeping them in the game early while they found their footing.

“That was the one positive that we had was that we were only down one going into the second period,” Cirelli said. “And give a shoutout to JJ, because he made some spectacular saves there to keep it at one and give us a chance in the end.”

Despite a first period Hagel described as “ugly”, he said Johansson was “unbelievable” and “stood on his head” for the Lightning when they needed him most.

The win puts Tampa Bay above .500 on the road at 10-9-2 this season. It is the team’s first road victory since Dec. 23.

“If we want to be a good team, the top of our division and compete with some of the teams in our division, it’s really close,” Hagel said. “We’ve got to start to win on the road. We know that, and this one feels good.”

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Nikita Kucherov, TBL (2 goals, assist)
2. Jonas Johansson, TBL (31 saves, W)
3. Brandon Hagel, TBL (Goal, assist)