*Photo from the Los Angeles Times*
Game, set, Gavrikov. Anze Kopitar had two assists, Vladislav Gavrikov scored the game winning goal, and the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in overtime on Saturday night in Los Angeles.
The Kings snapped the Lightning's 5 game win streak with the win, extending their own win streak to 3 games as they maintain 3rd place in the Pacific Division. They also have 5 wins in their last 7 games and are 6-3-1 in their last 10.
Los Angeles defenseman Mikey Anderson said of the winning streak that "In the room, we know what we have and how good we can be if we do it the right way consistently and together. Obviously, if we have things going the right way, we like our chances against anyone. They’ve had a lot of success the last couple years, so they’re a good team to test yourself against. They know how to win, so being able to come out and play that well against them, we’re moving the right way."
Adrian Kempe started the scoring for the Kings, giving them a 1-0 lead 7:03 into the game on his 22nd goal of the season. Brayden Point tied the game for the Lightning with a power play goal with 6 seconds left in the first, his 41st goal of the season. Trevor Moore scored the only goal of the second period to put the Kings ahead 2-1.
Anderson gave the Kings a 3-1 lead when he scored unassisted just 1:12 into the 3rd period. Steven Stamkos got one back for the Lightning on the power play, making it 3-2 on his 28th goal of the season. Stamkos scored again in the final minute of regulation to force overtime. Gavrikov ended it just 25 seconds into overtime for the Kings.
Drawing the start in goal for the Kings was Cam Talbot, who rallied for the win to improve to 22-16-6 through 43 starts and two relief outings. Talbot made 21 saves on the 24 shots the Lightning sent at him, giving him a .875 save percentage.
Opposing Talbot for the Lightning was Andrei Vasilevskiy, who fell in overtime as his record dropped to 26-16-2 in 44 games, all starts. Vasilevskiy turned aside 19 out of the 23 shots on goal the Kings had, recording a .826 save percentage in the loss.
Stamkos, the Lightning captain, said after the game that "A game that didn’t look like we were going to get anything out of, we were able to crawl back and get a point. So, you talk about collecting as many points as you can."
The Lightning take on the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night as they wrap up a back to back, with Jonas Johansson set to get the start in goal. Talbot is projected to be the starting goalie for the Kings in a road showdown with the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.
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