Lightning recover to top Panthers in OT

TAMPA-- Brayden Point scored at 2:49 of overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 5-4 win against the Florida Panthers at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Point took a pass from Anton Stralman and faked out Panthers forward Evgenii Dadonov before beating goalie Roberto Luongo high on the glove side.
"I made a move around the defenseman and just put one on net and it goes upstairs," Point said. "I'm just trying to work hard and the guys are finding me out there. Stralman] made a great pass to find me back door."
***[WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Lightning highlights]*
Yanni Gourde had two goals and an assist, and J.T. Miller and Alex Killorn scored for the Lightning (46-17-4), who are 7-0-1 in their past eight games and lead the Atlantic Division by six points over the Boston Bruins. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 45 saves for his 39th win.

"Two points is really important, especially against a team that's rolling right now," Miller said. "We know it's not going perfect right now but we're finding a way to win and I think that shows a lot about us."
Nick Bjugstad had his first NHL hat trick, and Vincent Trocheck scored a tying third-period goal for the Panthers (32-25-7), who had won six in a row. Florida is two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

"You've got to be optimistic and, not satisfied, but somewhat happy about that one," Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. "We came back from a 4-2 deficit in the third period. We showed extreme heart and courage playing the way we did in the third."
Gourde made it 1-0 at 10:38 of the first period when he controlled the rebound off a shot from Andrej Sustr. Miller gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead at 12:51 with a backhand off a pass from Gourde.
"I'm just trying to keep my game simple," Gourde said. "I have amazing linemates helping me do what I've been doing lately. I just want to keep building on that chemistry.
"[Miller] has been amazing. He brings tremendous energy to this team. He finishes his hits every time, he's very good on forechecks, he can skate very well and he shoots the puck; did you see his backhand tonight?"
Bjugstad made it 2-1 at 18:23 of the first period when his shot from behind the goal line hit Vasilevskiy in the helmet and went in.

"Just one of those games where it was finding my stick, and [linemates Aleksander Barkov] and [Dadonov] were finding me," Bjugstad said. "It feels good; obviously it would have been better with a win, but that's a good squad over there."
Gourde gave the Lightning a 3-1 lead at 1:27 of the second period with a turnaround shot from the right circle. Bjugstad made it 3-2 by poking the puck during a scrum in front of the net at 13:35, and Killorn increased the lead to 4-2 at 16:07.

Bjugstad completed his hat trick 21 seconds into the third period to make it 4-3, and Trocheck tied the game 4-4 with a power-play goal at 5:25.
"[Bjugstad] was a monster," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "He was taking pucks to the net and dragging people on his back. Since I've been here (first season), that's the best game I've ever seen Nick play. We needed a performance like that."

Goal of the game

Point's goal at 2:49 of overtime.

Save of the game

Vasilevskiy's save on Barkov at 12:14 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Bjugstad's goal 21 seconds into the third period.

They said it

"I think the boys fought hard tonight. I thought we were the better team, but they're very opportunistic on the other side, they've got some skill, and when we made a mistake they made us pay. I would've like to maybe bail the guys out with a big save somewhere and maybe get a win, but all in all I thought we played well for 60 minutes." -- Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo

"When you have the lead in the third period you would like to close it out. I know we've been on the fortunate side of the overtimes for the last little while, but we have to do a better job of closing games out." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Need to know

The teams combined for 39 goals (Lightning 22, Panthers 17) in their four games this season. Tampa Bay won three. ... The Lightning have played in six consecutive overtime games (5-0-1). ... Gourde tied Tyler Johnson (2013-14) for most goals in a season by a Lightning rookie (24). ... Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov had an assist on Killorn's goal for his NHL career-high 86th point. He had 85 points last season. … Vasilevskiy is 39-12-3.

What's next

Panthers: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-F, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the New York Rangers on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, SUN, MSG, NHL.TV)