Golden Knights top Lightning in shootout, end four-game skid

TAMPA -- The Vegas Golden Knights ended a four-game losing streak with a 3-2 shootout win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Cody Eakin and Valentin Zykov scored goals for Vegas (30-21-4), and Alex Tuch had the only goal in the shootout. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves.
"Definitely a good feeling," Fleury said. "Tonight, playing the best team and coming up with a win is a good confidence booster."
WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Lightning highlights]
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves for Tampa Bay (39-11-3), which went 1-for-5 on the power play and is 4-3-1 in its past eight games. Brayden Point and Mathieu Joseph scored.
"It was a good battle against a good team," said Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, who had two assists. "Could have went either way. We had a couple of power plays down the stretch that we didn't capitalize on."

Point gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 6:36 of the first period, his 31st goal of the season. Nikita Kucherov set up the play with his NHL-leading 59th assist.
"Losing the lead is tough at home," Point said. "We had a few chances where we could have scored. It was a tough game. Tough battle with some good saves both ways."
Joseph made it 2-0 at 14:19 of the second period when he was credited with his 13th goal of the season after a scrum in front of the net. The goal was originally waived off because of goalie interference, but a video review determined Golden Knights defenseman Colin Miller shoved Joseph into Fleury before the puck crossed the goal line.
Eakin pulled Vegas back to 2-1 at 16:28 of the second period with a breakaway goal off a pass from Jon Merrill.
"It was an unbelievable pass by Jon and Cody was able to finish it," Tuch said. "It gave us a little bit of a momentum boost, an energy boost. We played desperate, we played [ticked] off and it really helped us tonight."

Zykov finished a give-and-go with William Karlsson when he one-timed Karlsson's feed past Vasilevskiy to make it 2-2 at 5:22 of the third period. It was Zykov's first goal with the Golden Knights after being claimed off waivers from the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 29.
"We just kept pushing and playing," Zykov said. "We were not bothered by [trailing 2-0]."
Vasilevskiy kept the game tied with a diving save on Max Pacioretty off a rebound attempt with 6:06 left in the third. Fleury made a save on Adam Erne during a counter attack with 5:46 remaining.
Vegas outshot Tampa Bay 6-0 in overtime.
"We've had our share of success in shootouts this year," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Two good goalies. It was probably just going to take one to win that one, and that's what it did."

They said it

"I thought we played a real good 5-on-5 game and we had a little trouble with their power play early. They have the top power play in the League. They got one and we killed the rest off, so we did a great job." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant
"It wasn't the worst game we've played all year and it wasn't our best. It's pretty fitting it went to a shootout." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Need to know

Golden Knights center Ryan Carpenter was injured late in the second period after a hard hit from Lightning center Cedric Paquette. Gallant did not have an update on Carpenter's condition. … Kucherov has gone eight straight games without a goal, his longest drought of the season. …The Lightning lost their fourth game this season when leading after two periods (25-2-2). … Karlsson's assist was his third point (one goal, two assists) in the past 14 games. … Stamkos has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in the past 10 games.

What's next

Golden Knights: At the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-D, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the St. Louis Blues on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-MW, NHL.TV)