Stamkos has three points to help Lightning defeat Avalanche

TAMPA --Steven Stamkos took over the NHL scoring lead, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 at Amalie Arena on Thursday.
Stamkos had a goal and two assists; he has 41 points this season, one more than teammate Nikita Kucherov.

The Lightning (20-6-2) have won three in a row and are the first team to win 20 games this season.
"It's not easy to win games consistently in this league," Stamkos said. "We want to bank as many wins as we can on home ice, so I'm glad we were able to get another one."
WATCH: [All Avalanche vs. Lightning highlights]
Gabriel Landeskog and Erik Johnson scored for the Avalanche (12-13-2). Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves.
"We're going to have to watch some video and assess what we can do better and what's really costing us," Landeskog said. "That's four [losses] in a row now. We have to find a way to get out of this."

Landeskog, who returned after serving a four-game suspension for a crosscheck on Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk on Nov. 25, scored on his first shift. He took control of a loose puck around the boards, charged to the net and beat Peter Budaj with a backhand at 1:21 of the first period to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead.
"I was excited to be back out there," Landeskog said. "I saw an opportunity to take it to the net and got lucky."
Stamkos tied the game at 1-1 25 seconds later when he beat Varlamov one-on-one with a backhand for his 12th goal.
"I knew I had a step on [Nikita] Zadarov, he was kind of caught skating backwards and I was going full speed at him," Stamkos said. "I knew if I could get the puck I had stop time to make a move and it was nice to see that one go in."
The Lightning took a 2-1 lead at 13:36 of the first period when Kunitz scored on a high redirection of a shot from Dan Girardi. The Avalanche tied it 2-2 on a goal by Johnson at 18:22.

Namestnikov gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead at 8:09 of the second period when he scored on a rebound of a shot by Tyler Johnson.
Budaj made 28 saves, including stopping Avalanche forward J.T. Compher on a breakaway in the second period that would have tied the game 3-3.
"I think the puck was bouncing a little so he didn't get a good shot off," Budaj said. "And [Victor Hedman] was right on him, so that made my job a little easier."
Killorn scored a power-play goal at 4:57 of the third period to give Tampa Bay a 4-2 lead, and Point scored a shorthanded empty-net goal to make it 5-2 at 16:41.
"We had a really, really strong first, it's too bad we couldn't come out with the lead, but we knew we were playing well," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "And the power play scored again and it was a big goal for us."

Goal of the game

Namestnikov's goal at 8:09 of the second period.

Save of the game

Budaj's save on Compher at 12:57 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Stamkos' goal at 1:46 of the first period.

They said it

"It's tough on the road, it's tough in all these buildings. As a young team, we have to continue to pay attention to the process and find things to build on. To me, there were some things in that game that we did better than we did the three games before." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"It was nice to respond after getting down quickly. Budaj played outstanding and gave us a chance to catch our legs on some odd-man rushes. It was nice to see him get in there when we didn't have a back-to-back and guys were a little fresher in front of him." -- Lightning captain Steven Stamkos

Need to know

The Lightning set their record by reaching 20 wins in 28 games (20 wins in 33 games in 2014-15). ... Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon had an assist and has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in nine games against the Lightning.

What's next

Avalanche:At the Florida Panthers on Saturday (7 p.m., ET; FS-F, ALT, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday (7 p.m., ET; CITY, SUN, NHL.TV)