Stamkos Burns Old Club as Predators Edge Lightning in Shootout

Steven Stamkos delivered a Halloween thriller against his former club on Saturday, tying the game late and then winning it in the shootout as the Nashville Predators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 at Bridgestone Arena. Stamkos levelled the score at 4-4 with a power-play goal at 7:27 of the third period — his 246th career power-play goal, tying Phil Esposito for sixth on the NHL's all-time list — before beating Andrei Vasilevskiy under the right arm with a backhander in the fourth round of the shootout. Nashville goaltender Justus Annunen, playing in his first shootout in his 83rd NHL appearance, stopped all four Tampa Bay attempts, from Pontus Holmberg, Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel and Gage Goncalves, as the Predators won for the first time in six overtime contests this season. Reid Schaefer, Adam Edstrom and Jayden Struble also scored in regulation for Nashville, while Nikita Kucherov produced three assists for Tampa Bay the day after asking the Lightning for a trade. Guentzel, Victor Hedman and Conor Geekie scored for the visitors, who led three times in a breathless contest before Stamkos had the final say. The result gets Nashville back in the win column and gives their season-long five-game homestand a memorable highlight.