TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning were starting to feel the pressure, their lead against the Calgary Flames cut to one, the air sucked out of Amalie Arena. Two defensemen were hobbled in the locker room due to injuries, so Tampa Bay also was playing short-handed.
But 10 seconds after Elias Lindholm’s power-play goal brought the Flames within a goal Thursday night, Lightning defenseman Philippe Myers picked the best time for his first goal of the season in a 4-1 win.
Myers, fighting for playing time and ultimately a place on the roster, rocketed a shot from just inside the blue line on the right side, catching Calgary goaltender Jacob Markstrom off guard for an answering goal, restoring Tampa Bay’s two-goal cushion.
The Lightning’s third straight win gave them points in 10 of their last 13 games.
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 39 saves.
Myers, in the lineup because of injuries to right-shot defensemen Cal Foote and Erik Cernak, was one of five available blueliners at the time of his goal. Ian Cole had gone to the locker room after blocking a shot, and Nick Perbix hadn’t played since midway through the second period. Cole later returned.
Nikita Kucherov, whose goaltender-interference penalty set the stage for Lindholm’s goal, scored the first of his two goals on the power play with 1:44 left in the second period, putting Tampa Bay up 2-0.
After Steven Stamkos drew a holding penalty on Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson behind the Calgary net with 2:49 left in the second, Kucherov took a cross-ice pass from Stamkos and snapped a shot from the right circle past Markstrom.
Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev made the play possible, keeping the puck in the zone at the blue line and backhanding a pass to Stamkos, who swept a pass to an open Kucherov.
The Lightning were outshot 14-4 in the second period, but Kucherov’s shot was the most important of the period and, is it turned out, the game, as it turned out to be the winning goal.
After a scalding 11-game stretch in which Kucherov had 20 points (six goals and 14 assists) and a plus-7 rating, he entered Thursday’s game with just two points in his last three games with a minus-six rating.
Midway through the first period, Nick Paul pushed a puck toward the slot from the blue line and Sergachev tapped it to Stamkos approaching the left circle. The Lightning captain calmly rocketed a wrister that beat Backstrom.
For Stamkos, who notched his 500th career assist on Tuesday, it was his 490th career goal and 990th career point. He picked up another point with his assist on Kucherov’s first goal, Stamkos’ 501st career assist.
Stamkos’ goal came 35 seconds after a successful challenge negated Milan Lucic’s goal after video review ruled that the Flames were offside on the play.
Kucherov closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal with 13.7 seconds remaining.
