Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist in regulation, and Alex Killorn and Ross Colton each scored on penalties to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night in the Prudential Center.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for Tampa Bay, which earned its second straight victory over the Devils after a win on Tuesday night.
Timo Meier scored twice in the third period and Tomas Tatar also scored for New Jersey. Akira Schmid made 21 saves in his 12th start this season.
Colton, a New Jersey native who plays in his home state, scored his 16th goal of the year 1:09 into the game to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead.
The Devils broke through midway through the second period when Nico Hischier found Tatar with a cross pass, and Tatar scored his 16th goal at 1.
Shortly after fending off a two-man lead during a power play, Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead 18:11 into the second period when Stamkos scored his 28th goal.
( Lightning defeated Devils 4-1 to open 2-game set in New Jersey )
Meier scored his 33rd goal of the season on the rebound to tie it again midway through the third period.
Stamkos responded with another go-ahead goal at 15:13 of the third. But the Devils would tie it again when New Jersey took advantage of a power play and took out the goaltender, and Meier scored on the Tampa Bay zone faceoff 17:44 into the third and forced overtime.
This was two of three games between the teams in the next six days. The miniseries will conclude on Sunday in Tampa Bay. … New Jersey celebrated St. Patrick’s Day a day early, with the team wearing green warm-up jerseys. There were live bagpipe performances during pregame and intermission.
