Hedman, Lightning defeat Sharks in OT

TAMPA --Victor Hedman scored at 2:45 of overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Hedman skated through the neutral zone and across the high slot before shooting glove side through a screen by Anthony Cirelli.
"We had an odd-man rush and [Steven Stamkos] came behind me," Hedman said. "I tried to find him backdoor, but someone reached in and got a stick on it. I got a fortunate bounce going post in."
Cirelli and Alex Killorn scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves for the Lightning (30-10-6), who are 3-0-1 in their past four and 7-1-1 in their past nine.
"I was proud of what we did in the third," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "We give up the lead early, and now it's anybody's game. But as that period went on, we weren't turning pucks over and I think we started to lean on them a little bit.
"Good on them for not breaking, they got a point out of it, but I really liked the way we played in the third period. We got a nice break in overtime, but we earned it."

Logan Couture had a goal and an assist for the Sharks (22-20-4), who are 1-3-2 in their past six games. James Reimer made 29 saves.
"We've grinded and worked for each other and with each other," San Jose defenseman Brent Burns said. "Just tough. … Close to getting two points a couple of games here. We've been keeping games pretty tight. We need two points though, so it's always frustrating."
San Jose lost to Tampa Bay 7-1 on Jan. 22.
"We talked about the last game and how we weren't happy with the way we played," Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. "I thought we did a good job at the beginning of the game establishing our pace, playing smart, being above them and generating a few chances ourselves."
Cirelli gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 1:32 of the second period when he tapped the puck into an open net off a return pass from Brayden Point, who faked a shot and got Reimer to commit.
"It's nice going into the (All-Star) break with a win and playing the game that we did," Cirelli said. "It was a tight checking game, and we weren't turning the pucks over and we protected the middle of the ice. … Doing the little things right."

Rudolfs Balcers tied it 1-1 at 4:50 of the second period when he redirected a shot from Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
Killorn put Tampa Bay back in front 2-1 at 18:08. He caught a deflected pass from Stamkos in the low slot, dropped the puck and shot short side shortly after a 5-on-3 power play expired.
Couture tied it 2-2 at 1:12 of the third period, redirecting a pass from Burns in the slot on a power play.
"This whole road trip was gutsy I think," Couture said. "We competed with four really good teams in the Eastern Conference, four teams that are near the top of the league. We were in every game (1-1-2). We had that lead in Florida, we were tied late with Carolina, and tonight could've gone either way as well."
NOTES:Balcers has scored four goals in his past five games. … Couture's multipoint game was his first since Dec. 28 (12 games). … The Lightning are 8-1-1 against the Pacific Division. … Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro was minus-1 with five blocked shots in 27:21 of ice time. He missed a 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday after sustaining a facial injury that required oral surgery in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday. ... San Jose defeated the Washington Capitals 4-1 last Wednesday.