TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Lightning needed extra time for a milestone victory.
Alex Killorn scored with 42.5 seconds left on the clock in overtime as the Lightning got their team-record ninth straight win by beating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Saturday night.
"Anytime when hockey is turned up at this time of year, everybody is scrambling to make the playoffs, it's a testament to those guys," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.
The Lightning are not the only NHL team on a roll.
Anaheim won its 11th straight earlier Saturday when David Perron scored the go-ahead power-play goal in the second period of a 3-2 victory over Los Angeles.
"Stealing our thunder a little bit," Cooper said with smile.
Killorn skated around a Carolina defender and through the slot before beating Hurricanes goalie Eddie Lack.
"I was trying to figure out how to make a play," Killorn said. "Just ended up skating up the ice."
Ondrej Palat had two goals for the Lightning, who broke the old mark of eight wins in a row from 2004 when Tampa Bay won its lone Stanley Cup. Tyler Johnson had the other Tampa Bay goal, tying the score at 3-3 with 6:18 remaining in regulation.
Carolina got goals from Victor Rask, Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner.
"They're quicker than we are," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. "Their pace, their speed. Their quickness puts you in trouble."
Both teams had several quality scoring chances during overtime including Palat, who skated down the slot and his hat trick bid stopped by Lack.
"In overtime anything can happen," Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop said. "The guys were flying there. You had a feeling something good was going to happen."
After Staal scored during a power play at 3:09 of the third when Elias Lindholm's shot hit his leg and then went off Tampa Bay defenseman Anton Stralman, Skinner gave Carolina a 3-2 advantage on the rebound at 10:18.
Skinner's goal came less than a minute after Riley Nash completed serving a 4-minute penalty for high-sticking Palat.
Palat put Tampa Bay up 2-1 after skating from behind the net to the top of the right circle and scoring off the post with 4:19 remaining in the second.
About a minute after Bishop made a glove save on Skinner's right-circle shot, Rask tied it at 1 with 6:36 left in the second when his shot from the slot deflected off the goalie.
Shortly after Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman's hooking penalty expired, Palat opened the scoring with 3:17 left in the first. The left wing picked up the puck deep in the defensive zone and later made a move around defenseman Ron Hainsey before beating Lack from the low right-circle.
NOTES: Bishop improved to 7-1-0 against Carolina. ... Carolina LW Phillip Di Giuseppe had two assists for his first points in 10 games. ... The Lightning have won 12 of the last 14 games between the teams. ... Tampa Bay is 29-5-0 when scoring first. ... Lack is 0-3-1 against Tampa Bay. ... Skinner also had an assist and a game-high six shots on goal. ... Carolina D Brett Pesce was minus-3.
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