Florida (16-13-5) at Tampa Bay (9-16-9) 7:30 p.m. EST
TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Lightning are making a
run at their first extended winning streak.
The Lightning will be looking for their third straight win when
they face the Florida Panthers in the second half of a
home-and-home series on Saturday.
Tampa Bay owns the second-worst record in the NHL with 27 points
but is coming off back-to-back wins for the first time since
November 1. The 4-3 shootout victory over the Panthers was the
club's first shootout win since November 1 as well.
Defenseman Steve Eminger recorded a goal and two assists and
Ryan Malone tallied the shootout winner on Friday. Veteran Mark
Recchi and Evgeny Artyukhin also scored in regulation for the
Lightning.
The Lightning had jumped to a 3-1 lead with a pair of goals late
in the second period but Florida chipped away in the third,
finally forging a tie when defenseman Bryan McCabe scored with
14 seconds remaining to force overtime.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Panthers, who
have gained at least a point in each of their last four games.
Panthers netminder Tomas Vokoun, who had stopped 55 straight
shots and was coming off a pair of shutouts, allowed all three
regulation goals before being replaced by Craig Anderson to
start the third period.