The Tampa Bay Lightning scored five goals in the opening period and defeated the San Jose Sharks 8-1 at Amalie Arena on Thursday. Brayden Point recorded four assists and Brandon Hagel scored two goals to lead the Tampa Bay offense.
Tampa Bay began the scoring early when Cam Atkinson tipped in a shot 1:26 into the first period. Conor Geekie doubled the lead with a wrist shot at 7:29, and Hagel followed with backhand goals 23 seconds apart at 8:32 and 8:55. Jake Guentzel capped the first-period outburst by tipping in a power-play goal at 17:45.
Anthony Cirelli increased the lead to 6-0 at 4:16 of the second period with a tip-in, and Nick Perbix added a wrist shot at 18:32. Alexander Wennberg scored for San Jose 14 seconds into the third period with a wrist shot, but Nick Paul answered for the Lightning at 6:01 with a backhand goal.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves on 21 shots to earn the win for Tampa Bay, which scored on one of its two power-play chances. Vitek Vanecek took the loss for San Jose after stopping seven of 12 shots, while Mackenzie Blackwood made 20 saves on 23 shots in relief as the Sharks finished 0 for 3 on the power play.
With the win, the Lightning improved their regular-season record to 13-9-2. The loss dropped the Sharks to 10-14-5 on the season.
