Ondrej Palat finished off a tic-tac-toe play in 3-on-3 overtime to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 on Friday night.
A 36-second frenzy to start the extra period came to a head as the Lightning found themselves three-on-one.
Victor Hedman passed to Steven Stamkos, who fed Palat cross-ice, leaving the left-winger with a simple tap in to claim the victory.
Braydon Coburn, Cedric Paquette and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for the Lightning (5-2-1).
Nikolaj Ehlers, Drew Stafford and Blake Wheeler had regulation-time goals for the Jets (4-3-0).
Ben Bishop has started every game for the Lightning this season and moved to 5-2-1 on the year. Ondrej Pavelec picked up his third loss in five starts and sits at 2-3-0.
Tyler Johnson threaded a pass from behind the net to Coburn, who buried his first of the season for a 1-0 Tampa Bay lead.
Winnipeg tied the game 1-1 when Ehlers tapped home his second of the season after the Jets entered the zone three wide, with Mathieu Perreault feeding Mark Scheifele, who shuffled the puck over to Ehlers 16:28 into the first.
Ehlers came inches from his second of the night and a lead for the Jets, but his shot found iron, much to the liking of a helpless Bishop.
Tampa Bay restored their one goal advantage 7:23 into the second frame.
Paquette benefited from the Lightning forcing a Jets turnover, allowing the sophomore to snipe his first of the season top corner over Pavelec’s glove hand.
The Jets briefly tied the game at 2-2 through Stafford on a partial breakaway. But 21 seconds later the Lightning struck again as Namestnikov fired home a rebound off a Hedman point shot to restore their one-goal cushion at 11:18.
Winnipeg found the equalizer once again, this time shorthanded, 1:17 into the third period as Wheeler raced behind the net, stole the puck from Bishop and scored on a wrap around.
The Jets continue their six-game home stand with a date against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday. Tampa Bay heads to Chicago for a date with the Blackhawks Saturday night.
Notes: Blake Wheeler now has a point in each of the Jets seven games to start the season, tying a franchise record set by Donald Audette back in the 2000-01 season. Wheeler has nine points in seven games. Steven Stamkos played in his 500th game on Friday night.
