Victor Hedman scores in OT for Lightning

TAMPA -- Victor Hedman scored his second goal of the game 46 seconds into overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Amalie Arena on Wednesday.
Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning (29-25-8), who are 7-1-2 in their past 10 games and trail the Toronto Maple Leafs by three points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Kucherov had an assist on each of Hedman's goals. Hedman took his pass on a 2-on-1 in overtime and shot high past Carolina goalie Eddie Lack.
WATCH: All Hurricanes vs. Lightning highlights
"I saw we had some separation," Hedman said. "[Kucherov] made a great [saucer pass], and it was up to me to finish it off, and luckily it went in."
Kucherov has had three or more points in three of the past four games. He is the first Lightning player to have 12 points in a four-game span since Vincent Lecavalier from Nov. 10-19, 2007.
Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.
Noah Hanifin, Derek Ryan and Jay McClement scored for the Hurricanes (25-25-10), who are 1-6-2 in their past nine road games. Lack made 12 saves.
McClement tied it 3-3 with a shorthanded goal with 2:37 remaining in the third period, tipping a Jaccob Slavin slap shot past Vasilevskiy.
Kucherov put the Lightning ahead 3-2 at 15:18 of the third.
"When the puck is on [Kucherov's] stick and he's getting the chances, it's huge for us," Johnson said. "We try to do it as much as possible."

Johnson tied the game 2-2 at 10:51 of the third when a Jake Dotchin slap shot hit his skate in midair and beat Lack high. The goal was upheld by video review after Carolina coach Bill Peters challenged that Tampa Bay was offside on the play.
Carolina outshot Tampa Bay 18-4 in the first period and held a 24-12 advantage entering the third.
"For like two periods I was just standing there. Obviously, I have to look to myself," Lack said. "Only 16 shots and four goals, it's not acceptable. I have to find ways to play good."
Ryan gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead at 14:54 of the first period when he scored on the power play.
"I thought we had a great start," Carolina forward Lee Stempniak said. "We were all over them. They probably weren't at their best, and they picked up play as it went along. I thought we did a good job of generating offense, maybe not as much as the game went on but especially early on. You'd like to find a way to win those games."
Hedman put the Lightning ahead 7:58 into the game when he scored a power-play goal to make it 1-0. Hanifin tied it 1-1 at 11:51 with his third goal of the season.
"Our first period was unacceptable," Hedman said. "Today was one of those games where we probably wouldn't have argued if they came out with the two points. The performance is something we have to improve on, but two points is two points."

Goal of the game

Kucherov flicked the puck high into the left corner of the net off a pass from Johnson on a late-developing 2-on-1. Johnson drew defenseman Klas Dahlbeck to him in the right faceoff circle before passing to Kucherov alone in the slot.

Save of the game

After stopping Sebastian Aho's one-timer from the right circle at 4:04 of the first period, Vasilevskiy made a sliding chest save on Elias Lindholm's shot off the rebound.

Unsung performance of the game

Lightning forward Ondrej Palat had two assists, three blocked shots and two hits in 20:44.

Highlight of the game

With Lack dropping down into the butterfly, Hedman put the puck high off the left post and in to win it for Tampa Bay.
"Victor is a really, really good player in this league," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "An exceptional player."

They said it

"I look at our day yesterday in Sunrise. We traded [forward Viktor Stalberg] basically at the pregame meal, and we came out flat (in a 3-2 shootout loss at the Florida Panthers). They traded [forward Valtteri Filppula] this afternoon, and they came out flat. They're humans, so it has an impact on you." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
"We got schooled in the first period. It was another game where [goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy] had to come up huge for us just to keep it a one-goal game. I think that was the difference for us, was keeping it a one-goal game." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Need to know

Hanifin's goal ended a 35-game drought dating to Dec. 1, and Ryan's ended a 16-game drought dating to Jan. 10. … Hurricanes forward Phil Di Giuseppe had eight hits. … Forward Greg McKegg had a hit and a blocked shot in 8:14 in his Lightning debut. He was claimed off waivers from the Panthers on Monday.

What's next

Hurricanes: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-SE, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)
Lightning: At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVA Sports, ROOT, SUN, NHL.TV)