Golden Knights recover, win seven-round shootout against Lightning

TAMPA -- Brett Howden and William Carrier each had a goal and an assist for the Vegas Golden Knights, who defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in a seven-round shootout at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Robin Lehner made 27 saves, and Mark Stone scored the deciding goal for the Golden Knights (26-16-3), who were 2-1-1 on their four-game road trip.
"It was a tough road trip and a good test for us," Lehner said. "This was a big [two points] for us. I tried to do my best and got a couple of nice goals from the guys. They stepped up and scored a bunch for me. That was nice."
Ross Colton and Corey Perry scored four minutes apart for the Lightning (29-10-6), who outshot the Golden Knights 17-1 in the third period. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves.
Tampa Bay, which won 4-3 at Vegas on Dec. 21, is 6-1-1 in its past eight games.
"This is the first time we've seen this team in, how many years? A couple of years?" Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "I learned that they're really good and I learned we're good. Actually, I knew we were good, but I learned they're really good too."

Howden gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 5:25 of the first period when he scored from the slot on a rebound off a shot from Carrier.
Carrier made it 2-0 at 14:56 of the second period when his shot deflected off Vasilevskiy's stick and bounced off Lightning defenseman Fredrik Claesson. It was Carrier's first goal in 15 games.
"We might not have any points without the depth scoring we're getting between the fourth line (Carrier, Howden, Keegan Kolesar) and the defensemen," Vegas coach Peter DeBoer. "It's been critical. They keep it simple. I think when you're playing a goalie like Vasilevskiy, you're not going to beat him with a clean shot."
Colton cut it to 2-1 at 13:12 of the third period with a one-timer off a pass from Perry three seconds after a Lightning power play expired, and Perry tied it 2-2 at 17:12 on a scramble in front of the net after Vasilevskiy was pulled for an extra attacker.
"I think we were passing up shots a lot throughout the first two periods," Colton said. "We had chances in the slot where we were trying to make the cute pass. In the third period, we had a shot-first mentality, we were peppering him. I think shots were like 17-1. We can't wait until the third period to start doing that."

Each team scored three goals in the shootout before Stone won it in the seventh round.
The Golden Knights were without forward Chandler Stephenson, who leads them with 38 points (12 goals, 26 assists), and defenseman Dylan Coghlan. Each entered NHL COVID-19 protocol before the game.
"It's a [heck] of a road trip for us," DeBoer said. "Five out of eight points against these teams (Lightning, Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals) and dealing with adversity again right up until this morning with two guys getting pulled for COVID."
NOTES: Colton has scored four goals in the past four games. … Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev took a puck to the side of the helmet off a one-timer by Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith. Sergachev stayed in the game and had a game-high four blocked shots in 29:22 of ice time. ... Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov missed his second game in COVID-19 protocol. … Stone's shootout attempt was his first of the season. He is 3-for-13 in his NHL career. ... Perry has scored 398 NHL goals.