St. Louis gets hat trick as Lightning top Panthers
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Martin St. Louis scored three times in his 900th NHL game, Steven Stamkos added his league-leading 34th goal and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Florida Panthers 6-3 on Saturday night.
St. Louis got two goals during Tampa Bay's four-goal second, helping the Lightning take a 5-3 lead entering the third. The right wing, who has six goals and 16 points during a nine-game point streak, completed the hat trick on an empty-netter during the final minute of play.
Nate Thompson and Vincent Lecavalier also scored for the Lightning, who have won six of seven. Lecavalier added three assists.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Florida got goals from Tomas Fleischmann, Mikael Samuelsson and Sean Bergenheim. The Southeast Division-leading Panthers were coming off a 2-1 win over Winnipeg on Friday night.
Stamkos scored on his own rebound to give Tampa Bay a 4-2 lead with 7:24 left in the second. The center has six goals and eight points in six games against Florida this season.
Bergenheim pulled Florida to 5-3 with 46 seconds to go in the second.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tampa Bay went up 2-1 when Lecavalier scored his 20th goal this season from the high slot at 1:42 of the second. The Lightning captain has reached the 20-goal plateau in 12 consecutive seasons.
St. Louis extended the Lightning advantage to 3-1 when he picked up a loose puck just outside the crease and wrapped a shot around goalie Scott Clemmensen 2:40 after Lecavalier's goal. St. Louis also scored with 4:52 left in the second off a nifty pass from Lecavalier.
Clemmensen was pulled late in the second after allowing five goals on 25 shots and was replaced by Brian Foster, who made one save over 5 minutes in his NHL debut. Clemmensen returned to start the third.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Samuelsson cut the Florida deficit to 3-2 on the rebound after Mathieu Garon made a strong stop on Bergenheim's shot from the slot at 7:06 of the second.
Thompson put the Lightning ahead 1-0 during a 2-on-1 just 1:37 into the game. Florida tied it 1-all when Fleischmann scored from the right circle at 3:54 of the first off an backhand pass from the boards by Kris Versteeg.
Notes: This was the final game of the season series in which the Lightning went 4-1-1 ... Samuelsson has four goals and five points during a four-game point streak. ... Tampa Bay LW Ryan Malone, who has missed four games due to an undisclosed upper-body injury, has resumed skating.