Steven Stamkos netted his 28th goal of the season and Tyler Johnson scored twice in the third period to lead Tampa Bay past the Dallas Stars 5-3.
Victor Hedman scored for the first time since early January and Nikita Kucherov scored an empty netter to break his 14 game scoreless streak.
Johnson’s multi goal game was his sixth of the season taking the Bolts’ record when tied after two periods to 10-1-2.
Tampa Bay ended a four game road losing streak and are now four points clear of Montreal for the Atlantic Division lead.
“We lost our focus in the game for the last 12 minutes or so in the second and the leaders stepped up in the room and we talked about it that we were wasting our energy. So we just went out in the third and played as hard as we could and played a pretty good third. And they are learning. You have to dig deep on the road and it’s good to see. We just keep taking baby steps and guys are stepping up,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
According to Brian Boyle, captain Steven Stamkos, “Made his presence felt” in the locker room after the second period. “That’s what leaders do,” Boyle said. “We all fell in line.”
Recently recalled goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy played well stopping 33 of 36 shots, while making some big saves late.
The Bolts, already shorthanded on the blue line, played without Jason Garrison for half the game.
Nikita Nesterov (healthy), Brett Connolly (healthy), Radko Gudas (knee surgery) and Matt Carle (abdominal surgery) were the scratches.
The Lightning will host the Los Angeles Kings Saturday night.
(Feature Photograph/Getty Images)
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