ST. LOUIS — Steven Stamkos had his chances to finally score his 500th career goal Saturday night against the Blues at Enterprise Center.
Instead, the wait continues.
The Lightning were focused on the task at hand, opening their five-game road trip with a win in St. Louis.
And red-hot Brayden Point led the way with two goals and an assist, and rookie defenseman Nick Perbix pitched in a goal and an assist in the Lightning’s 4-2 win.
But you couldn’t help but have you eyes focused on Stamkos, who has been three goals away from becoming the third active player, and 47th player in NHL history, to reach 500 goals for more than a month.
In the second period, Stamkos had four glorious chances to reach his milestone goal, including a shot from the left hash that he pinged off the near post with a wide-open net.
The Lightning haven’t played well on the road, entering Saturday with a 9-9-0 record, and coach Jon Cooper made it clear it’s important for his team to be a better club when it returns from a trip that also takes them to Seattle and western Canada.
Point extended his team lead in goals, scoring twice in the first period. Beginning with a two-goal, one-assist effort against the Blues at home on Nov. 25, Point has 19 goals and 27 points in his last 22 games.
Perbix pinched to win a puck battle against the far boards and found Point in front for a wrister with 7:38 remaining in the first period to tie the score.
The Lightning then converted their first power-play opportunity, as Nikita Kucherov took the puck off the end boards and passed to Stamkos at the left circle.
Stamkos, receiving plenty of attention in his chase for 500, had two Blues skaters coming to him, and he found Point across the slot with a wide-open backdoor look for his 24th goal of the season, giving the Lightning a 2-1 lead with 3:17 mark.
Perbix scored his fourth goal of the season with 7:16 left in the second, crossing up Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington with a high shot that hit off Binnington’s glove and went up and over him into the back of the net to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead.
In one second-period sequence on the power play, Stamkos has one-timer from the left circle, then unloaded a wrister from the slot and dove for a rebound attempt, all empty chances. And then with the Lightning clinging to a one-goal lead, he clanked a wrister off the left post.
Alex Killorn provided a two-goal lead with 1:38 left in the second period, breaking from a crowd in the corner and taking a pass from Brandon Hagel for a open shot along the back post.
Perbix left the game after taking a hit off the end boards by Pitlick late in the second period and did not return, forcing the Lightning to play with five defenseman for the final period.
