Captain Vincent Lecavalier scored a power-play goal 4:53 into overtime as the Tampa Bay Lightning skated to a 4-3 triumph over the visiting St. Louis Blues on Sunday.
Steven Stamkos netted his NHL-leading 40th goal of the season and added three assists for Southeast Division-leading Tampa Bay (33-16-5), which posted its seventh win in eight games.
Dominic Moore and Steve Downie also tallied and Martin St. Louis and defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron notched a pair of assists apiece for the Lightning, who remained three points ahead of the second-place Washington Capitals in the division.
Dan Ellis turned aside 29 shots to improve to 13-7-5 on the season.
With defenseman Eric Brewer in the penalty box for holding, Lecavalier cleaned up a rebound and backhanded it past Ty Conklin for his ninth of the season in the waning moments of overtime.
Stamkos opened the scoring with 77 seconds remaining in the first period. Defenseman Brett Clark's shot on net caromed right to Stamkos, who beat Conklin to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 advantage.
Defenseman Nikita Nikitin recorded his first career NHL goal and David Backes, Patrik Berglund also tallied for St. Louis (23-20-8), which fell for the fifth time in six games.
Conklin made his second straight start and finished with 36 saves. The veteran is now 6-4-3 on the campaign.
St. Louis | Tampa Bay | |
Alexander Steen 2 | Points | Steven Stamkos 4 |
David Backes 1 | Goals | Steven Stamkos 1 |
Alexander Steen 2 | Assists | Steven Stamkos 3 |
David Backes 1 | Power Play Goals | Vincent Lecavalier 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Ty Conklin .900 | Save Percentage | Dan Ellis .906 |
Ty Conklin 36 | Saves | Dan Ellis 29 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
St. Louis | 32 | 3 | 1-4 | 4-5 | 10 | 33 |
Tampa Bay | 40 | 4 | 1-5 | 3-4 | 8 | 25 |