TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Captain Victor Hedman scored just over two minutes into overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night.
Hedman crossed the blue line, split the defense and drove straight to the net, tapping the puck through the legs of Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer, who was trying to poke the puck away. Pontus Holmberg got an assist on the goal 2:07 into OT.
Brandon Hagel scored twice and Ilya Mikheyev
added a goal for the Lightning, who improved to 4-0-0 at home. The last time Tampa Bay opened a season with four straight wins in 2020-21, when they opened 6-0.
Tampa Bay led 2-1 after two periods and was 3-0 when leading after 40 minutes entering Thursday's game. Last season, the Lightning were 33-1 when leading after two periods.
Jared McCann, Matthew Beniers and Ryan Winterton scored for the Kraken. Beniers’ tip-in goal in the third tied the game with 4:19 left in regulation.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves in the win for the Lightning. Grubauer had 31 saves for the Kraken.
Kraken: At the Florida Panthers on Saturday.
Lightning: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
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