Pontus Holmberg recorded a goal and three assists for a career-high four points, Anthony Cirelli scored and collected his 200th career assist as part of a four-goal second period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the visiting Winnipeg Jets 6-4 on Thursday night.
The Lightning improved to 6-0-0 at home as Brayden Point matched Cirelli with a goal and two assists. John Carlson, Conor Geekie and Brandon Hagel also scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 17 saves.
Winnipeg defenseman Neal Pionk scored twice in his 600th NHL game, and Dylan Samberg and Kyle Connor had a goal and an assist apiece. Mark Scheifele posted three assists and Cole Perfetti added a pair.
Goalie Stuart Skinner stopped 16 shots in two periods but was replaced by Nico Daws, who was 9-for-9 in his Jets debut.
The Jets lost their seventh straight game (0-5-2) to begin a four-game road trip and have been outscored 11-5 in their past two contests against Florida-based opponents.
In the first of two matchups between the teams over 11 days to complete the season series, Tampa Bay looked rested after four days off and scored first when Point moved into the slot, received a pass from Nikita Kucherov and beat Skinner at 2:20 of the first period.
Late in the frame, Perfetti dished a pass out to Pionk, who drilled a low shot from the blue line that got by Vasilevskiy to tie it at 17:45.
Dominic James pushed an odd-man rush that Geekie finished at 9:43 of the second period for a marker in his second straight game.
On its second power play, the home squad went up 3-1 when Cirelli outworked Haydn Fleury in the crease for a power-play marker at 15:56.
After Charle-Edouard D’Astous delivered a heavy hit on Winnipeg newcomer Dawson Mercer, Carlson scored on a one-timer at 18:07 to extend Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-1.
The Lightning kept pouring it on as Fleury spun and turned it over, leading to Hagel’s tally 56 seconds later, the period’s fourth goal.
Samberg and Pionk scored 1:50 apart in the third period, and Connor pulled Winnipeg within 5-4 with 2:48 remaining. Holmberg sealed the victory with an empty-net goal.
–Field Level Media
