DENVER (AP) – Anton Stralman scored twice to help Tampa Bay overcame a hat trick by Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog and the Lightning beat the Avalanche 6-5 Saturday night for their seventh straight win.
Mikhal Sergachev, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Yanni Gourde also scored for the Lightning, who have two wins against the Avalanche during the streak.
Trailing 5-2, the Avalanche pulled within two on Landeskog’s third goal of the night, a power-play score at 6:27 of the third in which he used his stick to change the direction of Tyson Barrie’s slap shot past goalie Peter Budaj and into the net. Landeskog’s third goal snapped Colorado’s 0-for-20 streak on the power play, a drought that had spanned six games.
Colorado pulled to 5-4 when Nathan MacKinnon scored on a wrist shot at 9:22 of the third but Tampa Bay answered with a goal by Sergachev at 11:32, putting his stick on the puck amid heavy traffic in front of the goal and knocking it through Landeskog’s legs and into the net.
Nikita Zadorov pulled the Avalanche within one again with 5:46 remaining. Colorado pulled the goalie for an extra skater for the last 90 seconds but couldn’t tie it.
The teams battled through a scoreless first period before Tampa Bay scored four in the second period, including the first two 19 seconds apart.
Kucherov started the flurry at 9:11, gathering in a lead pass from Hedman and skating between the circles before lifting a shot over goalie Jonathan Bernier’s stick-side and into the net.
At 9:30, Stralman corraled a loose puck in front of the net by going airborne over the fallen Bernier and tapping the puck into an empty net.
The Lightning made it 3-0 at 11:22 of the second on a goal by Hedman, who hit a backhander past Bernier, and added another by Gourde at 13:21 to cap the outburst that covered a span of 4:10.
The Avalanche got on the board with 5:44 left in the middle period when Landeskog finished off a breakaway with his 11th of the season, beating Budaj with a wrist shot over his glove side.
The Avs missed a chance to score later in the second when Hedman used his hand to swat away a loose puck in the crease after it trickled away from Budaj, who had saved a shot from Nathan MacKinnon.
Tampa Bay went up 5-1 on Stralman’s second goal of the night at 2:29 of the third. Landeskog got his second of the night when he deflected in a shot from the slot by Barrie at 4:58.