Martin St. Louis nets winner as Tampa Bay beats Winnipeg Jets 4-2 | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Martin St. Louis nets winner as Tampa Bay beats Winnipeg Jets 4-2

WINNIPEG - Martin St. Louis scored the winner in the third period then capped it with an empty-net goal to make it 4-2 for the Tampa Bay Lightning after a penalty-filled tussle with the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.

The Jets were outshot two-to-one for most of the game but still went into the third tied 2-2.

They scored two power-play goals and had managed to kill four of the chances they handed Tampa, until St. Louis tipped in Victor Hedman's shot from the point at 8:39 of the third on a fifth power play.

St. Louis, passed over for a spot on Canada's Olympic team, got a rare round of applause for an opposing player from the sellout crowd.

Valtteri Filppula and Ondrej Palat also scored for the Lightning (26-13-4) .

Olli Jokinen and Dustin Byfuglien scored for the Jets (19-22-5).

Tampa got off to a quick start.

Filppula deked past Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien in front of the Winnipeg net to fire one past Ondrej Pavelec at just 1:20 with the first shot of the game for the Lightning.

But the Jets made good on a five-on-three later in the first. Mark Scheifele fed a pass across the Tampa crease and Jokinen popped it behind backup netminder Anders Lindback before he could recover.

A slashing penalty to Filppula and a delay of game for Lindback (served by B.J. Crombeen) set up the scoring opportunity.

The Jets managed only two shots in the first period to Tampa's five and were outshot 12-7 in the second as well.

But Byfuglien still put them ahead on another power play early in the period, snapping one past Lindback on the short side off a drop pass from Blake Wheeler.

Things got chippier as the period progressed and tempers flared. Tampa had a couple of power-play chances but managed only one shot on both combined.

Shortly after the last, however, Palat tied things up on a pass from Nikita Kucherov after a breakaway by Alex Killorn at 15:37.

The Jets penalty kill finally buckled in the third on Hedman's shot from the point that St. Louis tipped in from Pavelec's glove side.

Frustration boiled over again late in the third and gloves and sticks littered the ice after a clash around the Tampa net that saw four players sent to the box. The game basically ended with a fight between Evander Kane and Eric Bewer.

Winnipeg had lost their last three going into Tuesday's game, while Tampa had a five-game road winning streak snapped last Sunday by the Edmonton Oilers.

Notes: Ondrej Pavelec picked up a rare netminder's assist on Byfuglien's goal. For whatever reason, Tampa has had trouble beating Winnipeg. The Jets won their first meeting of the season Dec. 7 in overtime and going into Tuesday's game had won the past four against Tampa. They still have a record of 7-3-2 against the Lightning since moving from Atlanta in 2011.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2014
The Canadian Press

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