Steven Stamkos becomes franchise leader in power-play points, Lightning handle Predators 5-2

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Steven Stamkos‘ goal made him the franchise leader in power-play points, Yanni Gourde scored twice and the Tampa Bay Lightning remained perfect on home ice with a 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Monday night.

Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat also scored for the Lightning. Stamkos’ goal in the second gave him 301 points on the power play to pass Marty St. Louis for most in team history.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves as Tampa Bay improved to 4-0 at home.

Eeli Tolvanen and Mikael Granlund scored for Nashville. Juuse Saros finished with 21 saves.

Tampa Bay raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first period.

Palat notched his team-leading fourth of the season after Stamkos was able to kick the puck over to Palat, who had an easy backhand chance after Saros was taken out of the crease by his own player at 9:13.

Gourde made it 2-0 in transition. Anthony Cirelli quickly gained the zone to find Tyler Johnson across the ice at the right circle for a pass into the path of Gourde for a redirect at 13:59.

Then with 0.4 seconds remaining on the clock, Point finished off a give-and-go with Mathieu Joseph to give the Lighting a commanding lead heading to the first intermission.

Stamkos made it 4-0 at 7:23 of the second period, firing a wrist shot from the right circle through the legs of Dante Fabbro and over the glove of Saros for his fourth of the season.

The Predators scored a pair of goals early in the third to cut the lead in half.

Tolvanen was open in front to take a feed from Erik Haula at 2:53 before Granlund tucked in a loose puck during a scramble in the crease at 5:41.

Gourde scored an empty-net goal with 10 seconds remaining to secure the victory.

BACK IN UNIFORM: Lightning G Curtis McElhinney dressed as the backup to Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was making his 33rd consecutive start dating back to last season and including the playoffs, for the first time since Jan. 15. McElhinney spent two weeks on the league’s COVID protocol list before returning to the team on Jan. 30.

NO BORO TIME: Nashville D Mark Borowiecki, who help the Predators create a physical presence in Saturday’s first meeting, was a healthy scratch.

ODDS ALIGNMENT: For the first time this season, the Lightning utilized a lineup with seven defensemen and 11 forwards. Alex Volkov was a healthy scratch as D Erik Cernak, who missed the previous two games with an undisclosed upper-body injury, returned to the lineup.