TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter and Morgan Barron scored second-period goals, Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves and the Winnipeg Jets held off the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Sunday night.
Nate Schmidt scored in the first period and Hellebuyck stopped all 14 shots he faced in the third for the Jets, who improved to 8-3-0 in the second game of back-to-back sets.
Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli scored for Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 19 saves. Victor Hedman hit the post in the final seconds.
Niederreiter’s power-play goal 1:01 into the second period put the Jets ahead 2-1. He picked up the deflection of a shot by Mark Scheifele and tucked it between Vasilevskiy’s pads.
Barron knocked the rebound of Brenden Dillon’s shot into a half-empty net at 9:04; the goal, which made it 3-1, was upheld after the Lightning challenged for goaltender interference.
Killorn gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead 1:19 into the game when his wrist shot snuck past Hellebuyck and barely slid over the goal line. But the Jets got even at 10:15 when Schmidt’s straightaway slap shot from just inside the blue line deflected off Lightning forward Michael Eyssimont and went past Vasilevskiy.
The Lightning received a bench minor for the failed challenge on Barron’s goal, but they pulled within 3-2 at 10:01 on Cirelli’s short-handed breakaway goal. Tampa Bay had three power plays later in the period, including a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:02, but couldn’t score.
Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos returned after missing the last two periods of Saturday night’s 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks with a lower-body injury. Winnipeg played without its top defenceman, Josh Morrissey, who sustained a lower-body injury Saturday in a 5-4 overtime win over the Florida Panthers.
UP NEXT
Jets: Complete a three-game trip at Carolina on Tuesday.
Lightning: Play the first of back-to-back games at New Jersey on Tuesday.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
