Ilya Lyubushkin scored the game-winner on a short-handed breakaway 1:41 into overtime, Tage Thompson posted his fifth career hat trick and Buffalo beat the host Tampa Bay Lightning 6-5 on Thursday.
With Buffalo opening overtime on a four-on-three penalty kill, Lyubushkin notched his first goal in 42 games this season by stripping Steven Stamkos up top and breaking in on goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (17 saves). Lyubushkin beat him on the short side to move Buffalo to 7-3 in overtime.
In Buffalo’s first game of a back-to-back set in Florida, Zemgus Girgensons and rookie Jack Quinn also scored. Rasmus Dahlin and Jeff Skinner had two assists apiece, and goalie Eric Comrie made 36 saves.
Brayden Point had a goal and three assists while Victor Hedman and Stamkos each scored and set up a goal. Anthony Cirelli and Ross Colton also found the net as Tampa Bay extended its franchise-record home point streak to 16 games (14-0-2).
Nikita Kucherov set up Stamkos’ tally to stretch his team-record home point streak to 19 games, dating back to a three-assist game against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 25.
Stamkos lit the lamp 2:19 into the matchup between the offensive-minded clubs with his 26th goal.
However, Girgensons got credit for his seventh on what was technically Buffalo’s first of just two shots on goal in the period. Dahlin’s shot from the slot deflected off Girgensons’ skate and through Vasilevskiy at 11:41 to tie the score.
In the second, the Lightning’s Brandon Hagel was shoved off the puck by Dahlin, leading to Thompson’s rush the other way with Skinner, who fed the big center for his 17th man-advantage marker at 9:36.
Thompson added a second on a break for a 3-1 lead, but Hedman slapped home his fifth just 16 seconds later. Quinn matched the tally with his 10th only 49 seconds later for a 4-2 Sabres lead.
At 5:48 of the third, Tampa Bay cut it to 4-3 when Hedman sprung Point, who backhanded in his 34th goal. Thompson answered with his second one-on-one goal 30 seconds later, his 39th goal.
The Lightning completed the comeback when Cirelli netted his eighth goal at 8:33 and Colton his 13th on a power play at 14:54.
–Field Level Media
