Lightning hold off Flames without Stamkos, end four-game losing streak

TAMPA --The Tampa Bay Lightning ended their four-game losing streak with a 4-3 win against the Calgary Flames at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves for the Lightning (41-19-5), who scored three goals on special teams (two on power play, one shorthanded) and are seven points behind the Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division. Nikita Kucherov had two assists to extend his personal point streak to 19 games (14 goals, 17 assists).
"It was a good performance from start to finish," Lightning forward Blake Coleman said. "Since I got here we've had a little trouble on special teams, but it was one of the big things that bailed us out tonight."
WATCH: [All Flames vs. Lightning highlights]
Tampa Bay was playing its second straight game without center Steven Stamkos, who will be out 6-8 weeks because of core muscle surgery.
"It's a huge loss when you think about the way he produces for us," Lightning forward Alex Killorn said. "He is a huge part of this team. He's also the leader of the team. [It's only] six weeks, so hopefully we can have him back in time for the playoffs."
Elias Lindholm had a goal and an assist, and David Rittich made 29 saves for the Flames (33-26-7), who have lost two straight and remained one point ahead of the Nashville Predators for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"Overall, we didn't play 60 good minutes to win a game against one of the best in the League," Lindholm said. "We had some moments, a couple of minutes here and there, but it wasn't good enough."
Tyler Johnson gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 13:52 of the first period when he redirected Mikhail Sergachev's point shot on the power play.
"We wanted to keep things a little bit more simple and shoot the puck," Johnson said. "[Sergachev] shot the puck in front, then it hit my stick and goes in. Sometimes it's not always the prettiest of plays that are the most effective."

Ondrej Palat made it 2-0 at 7:05 of the second period with a power-play goal, scoring with a wrist shot that deflected in off the stick of Flames defenseman Derek Forbort. Yanni Gourde shot through the legs of Mark Giordano while shorthanded to extend the lead to 3-0 at 11:50.
"I just honestly wanted to get the shot through," Gourde said. "I knew Cedric [Paquette] was driving the net really hard, and he drove both defensemen really low, so it kind of opened up my shot. I was fortunate enough to score a goal from a distance."

Andrew Mangiapane made it 3-1 at 13:12 with a wrist shot short side from the left circle, and Lindholm scored 52 seconds later to cut it to 3-2.
"[The shorthanded goal] is a huge goal, a lot of momentum," Giordano said. "We came back and scored two goals pretty quick, but you can't give up those type of momentum-swinging goals this time of year."

Killorn pushed the lead to 4-2 at 14:57 of the second, taking a pass from Coleman and deking Rittich before finishing with his backhand.
Sean Monahan scored a power-play goal at 17:11 of the third period to cut it to 4-3.
"They're a good team, but obviously we gave them too many power plays," Monahan said. "Their skill guys get the puck like that and they are on the power play, they're going to start feeling it and getting momentum. We've got to learn from that and obviously be better."

They said it

"They won the special teams battle for sure. They had a couple of power-play goals and we gave up a [shorthanded goal]. That's not a recipe for success most nights." -- Flames coach Geoff Ward
"In practice, we liked a lot of the things we've been doing (on the power play). We got the bounce on the first one and then a good play on the second one. It's too good to keep it down for long. You can make an argument that [special teams] probably cost us the last two games, and it won for us tonight." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Need to know

Flames center Mikael Backlund had an assist on Mangiapane's goal and has 11 points (five goals, six assists) during a six-game point streak. ... Lightning defenseman Zach Bogosian had an assist, his first point since signing with Tampa Bay on Feb. 23. ... Sergachev had two assists on the power play.

What's next

Flames:At the Florida Panthers on Sunday (4 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-F, SNW, NHL.TV)
Lightning:Host the Boston Bruins on Tuesday (7:30 ET; NBCSN, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, NHL.TV)