PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - NHL leading scorer Steven Stamkos got his second hat trick of the season on Thursday and the Tampa Bay Lightning erased an early two-goal deficit for a wild 8-7 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Nate Thompson gave Tampa Bay their first lead of the game when he scored about five minutes into the third period and the Lightning held on for the win. Philadelphia had led in the game on four separate occasions.
"It was crazy. I've never been involved in anything like this at any level," Stamkos said. "It's fun to be a part of it and it's fun to contribute, but at the end of the day, we wanted to win this game."
Stamkos extended his scoring streak to seven games with three goals and two assists, putting him atop the league with 19 goals and 35 points.
Philadelphia jumped out to a 2-0 lead five minutes into an opening period where both teams combined for nine goals.
"There are games like that where everything is going to find the back of the net," said Flyers center Daniel Briere, who scored late in the first period. "It seems the goalies couldn't get a hold of (the puck). There were a lot of rebounds around and both teams were finding them."
Both teams replaced their starting goalies by the start of the second period but it did little to slow both offenses. The Flyers built a 7-5 lead but the Lightning rallied to even the score before the end of the second period.
(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario. Editing by Frank Pingue)
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