Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos posted a goal and two assists as the Lightning won their first outdoor game, beating the Predators 3-2 on Saturday night in the NHL Stadium Series match at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium.
At 11:31 of the third period, Stamkos one-timed a pass from Cal Foote for his club-leading 25th goal to make it 3-1 — the game’s only even-strength score.
Nikita Kucherov produced a goal and an assist, Brayden Point scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for the Lightning, who finished with a 5-1-0 record in February.
Tanner Jeannot and Filip Forsberg collected goals and Juuse Saros stopped 30 shots for the Predators, who fell to 0-2-0 outdoors. Nashville lost 5-2 to the Dallas Stars at the Cotton Bowl stadium on Jan. 1, 2020.
The Saturday game was played before 68,619 fans.
In the first NHL matchup in the Tennessee Titans’ Nissan Stadium and with 39-degree weather at the puck’s drop, the temperature between the teams warmed up less than two minutes in.
Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak was hit in the head by a shoulder from Ryan Johansen, and the Nashville forward was originally given a five-minute major penalty. However, the infraction was reduced to a two-minute minor upon video review.
After a successful penalty kill, the Predators took advantage on their first power play when Jeannot tapped in a rebound off Philip Tomasino’s shot at 8:20. Jeannot pulled level with Toronto’s Michael Bunting for the league lead in rookie goal-scoring.
Early in the second period on the Lightning’s second power play, Kucherov flipped a backhanded pass to Point, who swatted it in for his 20th goal at the 58-second mark. The tally extended Point’s point streak to six games.
After Jeannot went off for high-sticking, Kucherov notched the Lightning’s second power-play goal with a quick wrister from the right circle at 6:18 of the second period, giving Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.
Shortly after Stamkos’ tally, Forsberg made it 3-2 at 12:29 of the third with Nashville on its fourth man advantage.
Following the final horn, the teams briefly scrapped behind Vasilevskiy’s net after Nashville failed to score with its goal empty, but then the teams lined up and shook hands at center ice.
–Field Level Media