Victor Hedman scored at 2:07 of overtime to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-3 victory over the Seattle Kraken at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday. The goal was Hedman's first of the season and decided a game that featured three ties.
Seattle opened the scoring at 5:43 of the first period when Ryan Winterton scored on a backhand shot set up by Frederick Gaudreau. Brandon Hagel evened the game for Tampa Bay at 16:53 of the opening period with a wrist shot assisted by Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel. Hagel then put the Lightning ahead 2-1 at 3:38 of the second period, scoring on a snap shot after passes from Anthony Cirelli and Dominic James.
The Kraken tied the contest 2:54 into the third period as Jared McCann scored on a snap shot during a power play, with assists from Jordan Eberle and Chandler Stephenson. Ilya Mikheyev put Tampa Bay back in front at 9:58 with an unassisted wrist goal. Seattle pulled even again at 15:41 when Matty Beniers deflected a shot from Vince Dunn past the goalie. In the extra period, Pontus Holmberg set up Hedman, who converted a backhand shot for the win.
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 24 of 27 shots to earn the victory. Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves on 35 shots in the overtime loss for Seattle. The Kraken converted 1 of 3 opportunities on the power play, while the Lightning finished 0 for 3 with the man advantage.
The result moved Tampa Bay to a 5-2-0 record on the season. Seattle shifted to 5-2-1 with the overtime point. In their head-to-head regular season series, the Lightning hold one win and the Kraken have zero.
Both teams play next on Tuesday, October 20. The Kraken will host the Detroit Red Wings, while the Lightning will visit the Vegas Golden Knights.
