Hedman gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead on their first shot of the game at 10:03 of the first period. He scored blocker side from the point through traffic during a delayed penalty.
Matthews tied it 1-1 at 19:00 when he one-timed a pass from Rielly from above the right circle on a power play.
Point put the Lightning back in front 2-1 at 2:54 of the second period. He tucked a backhand around the right pad of Woll after receiving a touch pass from Kucherov, who was below the goal line.
“[Kucherov] is special. He’s a special player,” Paul said. “You kind of watch him play and you try and do it in practice and it looks nothing like what he’s doing out there in the game. His vision, his skating, his hands, shot, his deception, you name it, you just watch him play and it’s crazy. That pass, it’s a rim down, he one-touches it off the wall, a little toe-drag pass right on to Point and another toe-drag to the back of the net. You don’t see that every night and he’s making those plays all over the ice.”
Stamkos made it 3-1 at 8:47 when he beat Woll five-hole from the left circle on a 2-on-1.
“You make little mistakes, letdowns in the defensive end, and obviously there’s a lot of skill, a lot of talent on that team and they make you pay,” Matthews said. “We kind of dug ourselves a hole there and we couldn’t climb out of it. Especially in the third I thought we were pretty flat.”
