Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos scored the only goal in the shootout Sunday in the Lightning’s 5-4 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild.
Stamkos swooped in from the left and beat Wild goalie Kaapo Kahkonen (20 saves) over his right shoulder for the game-deciding marker.
Brian Elliott (28 saves) stopped Mats Zuccarello, Kevin Fiala and Kirill Kaprizov to win in his first start on home ice for the Lightning.
Anthony Cirelli notched two goals, and Pat Maroon and Alex Barre-Boulet tallied for Tampa Bay, which killed off 1:29 of a four-on-three power play in overtime.
Marcus Foligno, Brandon Duhaime, Fiala and Joel Eriksson Ek potted goals for Minnesota, which lost its second straight one-goal game over the weekend.
The Lightning played without spark plug center Brayden Point (upper body, out indefinitely) and the Wild without defenseman Jared Spurgeon (lower body) — each injured Saturday.
After yielding four unanswered goals in the third period of Saturday’s 5-3 home loss to the New Jersey Devils, the Lightning bounced back 66 seconds after the puck dropped.
Nearly a minute into his club’s first power play, Cirelli redirected Victor Hedman’s shot in for his fifth goal.
Maroon later skated around the Wild net and roofed a backhander — his fourth tally — that was originally waved off. A quick review overturned the call for a 2-0 lead at 11:14.
The visitors cashed in on their second power play at 14:40 when Foligno — parked in front of Elliott — clipped Matt Dumba’s blast and sent it past the Tampa Bay netminder.
With the Wild holding an early possession advantage in the second, Duhaime — a native of south Florida — tied it at 3:56 when he ripped home a high shot. The marker was the defenseman’s third.
In a battle in close, Kahkonen made the initial save on Cirelli, but the forward put a backhanded swat on his own rebound as he fell to the ice — notching his second goal and a 3-2 Lightning lead with less than three minutes left in the frame.
Barre-Boulet — who replaced Point after being recalled Sunday morning from AHL affiliate Syracuse — provided two-goal insurance by chipping in a puck at 9:19 of the third for his second tally.
Minnesota pulled Kahkonen for the extra skater with five minutes left, and Fiala scored at 17:12.
Eriksson Ek forced overtime by shoving in the tying goal with 39 seconds left and Kahkonen again on the bench.
–Field Level Media