Paul, Lightning recover late, defeat Golden Knights

TAMPA -- Nicholas Paul broke a tie with 1:13 remaining in the third period, lifting the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-4 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Amalie Arena on Thursday.

Paul scored on a rebound from a sharp angle in the left face-off circle after Vegas goalie Jiri Patera sent a redirection from Victor Hedman wide of the net.

"‘Heddy’ was coming up the wall, beat the guy and I saw the angle he shot it on and thought it would go wide," Paul said. "I just stayed wide and it ended up on my stick."

Paul had a goal and two assists, Brayden Point had two goals and an assist, and Nikita Kucherov had a goal and two assists for the Lightning (16-13-5), who have won three of four. Hedman had three assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves.

"Vegas is [the] reigning champs and they have the best record in the League," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "They come into your building and we wanted to see where we're at. For one night it was an emotionally engaged team and the result we love, but we don't have the record Vegas has. So we've got to make sure that night after night we bring what we did tonight."

Jonathan Marchessault scored twice, Paul Cotter had a goal and an assist, and Jack Eichel and Brayden McNabb each had two assists for the Golden Knights (21-8-5), who have lost three of four. Patera made 31 saves.

"I know we deserved better after that third period," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We probably could have gotten the lead late. We had some really good looks, but it didn't work out that way. We are going to take the good from it, but we have to address what we need to do better with some of these periods that are getting away from us."

Marchessault gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 11:40 of the first period when he scored from the slot after McNabb shot from just inside blue line and Cotter tipped the puck to Marchessault out of the air in the left circle.

Ivan Barbashev pushed the lead to 2-0 at 16:58 with a wrist shot from the slot off a pass by Mark Stone.

"Obviously we didn't play our best game and made simple mistakes at the wrong time, and it cost us," Cotter said. "Hopefully we can nail down what we did wrong and not have that happen again."

The Lightning scored four straight goals in taking the lead.

Alex Barré-Boulet cut it to 2-1 at 8:25 of the second period when he redirected a shot from Hedman.

"A big point of emphasis is to shoot the pucks and we need to have bodies [in front]," Cooper said. "The last couple of games we've been rewarded for it, so I hope it continues."

Kucherov tied it 2-2 with a 5-on-3 goal at 15:55, scoring on a one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Steven Stamkos. Point put Tampa Bay ahead 3-2 with a power-play goal at 16:28 off a chip from close range.

Point extended the lead to 4-2 at 18:50 on the rebound of a Paul shot that hit the post. It was Point’s 500 NHL point.

"That's really cool," Point said. "Not quite as many as the milestones we've been seeing. … The team's been great ever since I've been here. So it's been really fun and it's pretty cool."

Marchessault’s power-play goal made it 4-3 at 5:31 of the third period. He scored his second of the game on a one-timer from the slot off a pass from William Karlsson.

Cotter tied it 4-4 at 9:44 with a wrist shot from high in the left circle.

Vegas had two scoring opportunities in the final seconds. Karlsson was open at the right post but couldn’t get off a clean shot with six seconds left. Vasilevskiy made a save on Eichel’s slap shot from the top of the slot and trapped the puck with three seconds left to preserve the win.

"I just tried to get it out quick knowing we didn't have a lot of time on the clock," Eichel said. "By the goalie’s reaction and some of the fans’ reaction I figured the puck was behind him. But he [found] a way to freeze it. There were a few of those instances tonight.

"… It's tough to swallow knowing that you did a lot of good things in the third period to give yourself a chance to win."

NOTES: Eichel extended his point streak to 12 games (19 points; seven goals, 12 assists). ... Marchessault has eight points (five goals, three assists) in the past six games. ... Vegas had 23 blocked shots. ... The Golden Knights are tied atop the NHL standings with the Vancouver Canucks (22-9-3). … Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev did not play after injuring his foot against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday and is day to day. ... Point has eight points (four goals, four assists) during a six-game point streak. He has 501 points (234 goals, 267 assists) in 533 NHL games. ... Stamkos (assist) has nine points (five goals, four assists) during a four-game point streak.