Steven Stamkos inched closer to career goal 500 and Victor Hedman added three assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning came back from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 on New Year’s Eve.
Brayden Point capped off his scorching hot December with a goal and an assist. Alex Killorn, Mikhail Sergachev, and Brandon Hagel all scored while Nikita Kucherov added two assists to reach 40 on the season. He reached that total in fewer games, 35, than any player in Lightning history. Andrei Vasilevskiy was in net for the third straight game and stopped 28 of 31 shots for his 16th win of the season.
The Coyotes took an early lead as Travis Boyd and Christian Fischer scored 34 seconds apart six minutes into the first period. Brayden Point scored his team-leading 21st goal to cut the deficit to one.
The Lightning had their own burst of offensive fireworks in the second period as Sergachev and Stamkos scored 27 seconds apart. For Stamkos it was his 498th career goal. Nick Bjugstad tied the game at 3, but Killorn put his 11th goal of the season in the net with just over a minute to go in the period.
Hagel scored early in the third on the power play to put the Bolts up by two. Vasilevskiy stopped all 11 third period shots he faced to finish off the third win in a row for the Lightning. They extended their home winning streak to seven games.
Highlights
Brayden Point (Nikita Kucherov)
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) December 31, 2022
Mikhail Sergachev (Brayden Point, Victor Hedman)
SERGY SZN ‼️ pic.twitter.com/wuQNRpWPjm
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) December 31, 2022
Steven Stamkos (Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov)
Office hours are officially OPEN. pic.twitter.com/j6cUHvjFqb
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) December 31, 2022
Alex Killorn (unassisted)
THERE GOES THAT MAN pic.twitter.com/rwku77qDsq
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) December 31, 2022
Brandon Hagel (Victor Hedman, Steven Stamkos) Power Play
🥯 in the chat pic.twitter.com/LeBSX3k5z1
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) January 1, 2023
