Tampa Bay trailed by a goal through 20 minutes on a late power play strike from Ryan Ellis. Andrei Vasilevskiy made the initial save on Filip Forsberg's shot but allowed a big rebound to Nick Cousins in the right circle. With Tampa Bay scrambling, Cousins fired a pass to Ellis inside the opposite circle who scored to give Nashville the lead.
The Bolts responded with four unanswered goals in the second period to firmly take control.
With the Lightning on the power play early in the period, Tyler Johnson put home a rebound chance to quickly tie the game at one.
Tampa Bay then took the lead three minutes later on Cal Foote's first NHL goal. Mikhail Sergachev set the rookie up for a one-timer from the left circle and he blasted the shot past Pekka Rinne to put the Bolts up 2-1.
Victor Hedman and Steven Stamkos then rounded out the second period barrage with a pair of goals to push the lead to three. On Hedman's goal, he jumped off the bench late and fired a shot through traffic that beat Rinne. Stamkos followed with a vintage left circle one-timer on a power play late in the period that made it 4-1.
Mathieu Olivier scored on a power play seven minutes into the third period to cut the Lightning's lead to two. Vasilevskiy made the initial save on Ryan Johansen but the puck trickled through his equipment and Olivier crashed the net to tap home the loose puck.
Things got a little tight for Tampa Bay when Viktor Arvidsson scored to make it 4-3 with 1:34 remaining in regulation. Mikael Granlund fed Arvidsson from below the goalline and Arvidsson roofed his shot over Vasilevskiy's shoulder to make it a one-goal game. The Bolts survived a few mad scrambles in the crease in the closing seconds to secure the victory.
Even with Ellis and Olivier scoring on the power play, Tampa Bay's PK deserves credit for an extended 5-on-3 kill. In the first period, Steven Stamkos and Anthony Cirelli took back-to-back slashing calls, giving the Predators a two-man advantage for 45 seconds but the Bolts managed to keep Nashville from getting set up and killed it off.
Saturday's contest got feisty at times with Pat Maroon and Yanni Gourde both dropping the gloves for Tampa Bay and a combined 64 penalty minutes between the two teams. We'll see if any of that hostility caries over to Monday night when the Bolts and Preds close the two-game set at Amalie Arena.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
NSH | 17:55 Ryan Ellis (1) - Nick Cousins, Filip Forsberg - PPG
2nd Period
TBL | 3:33 Tyler Johnson (1) - Anthony Cirelli, Mikhail Sergachev - PPG
TBL | 6:41 Cal Foote (1) - Mikhail Sergachev, Brayden Point
TBL | 8:05 Victor Hedman (2) - Steven Stamkos, Anthony Cirellli
TBL | 17:27 Steven Stamkos (3) - Victor Hedman, Brayden Point - PPG
3rd Period
NSH | 5:57 Mathieu Olivier (1) - Ryan Johansen, Roman Josi - PPG
NSH | 18:26 Viktor Arvidsson (2) - Mikael Granlund, Filip Forsberg
