TAMPA Tyler Graovac Jersey Womens , Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point’s prettiest goal didn’t count.The two that did helped the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning win, again.Point had a tiebreaking power-play goal in the third period and added a late empty-netter in the NHL-leading Lightning’s 3-1 comeback victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night.“We have confidence if we keep sticking with it,” Point said.After Point scored from in-close with 3:15 left, the center got his 28th goal into the empty net during the final minute.Tampa Bay had a nifty breakaway goal by Point with 9:51 left in the second disallowed after a video review requested by the Hurricanes that determined the play was offside because Tyler Johnson had not completely left the ice on a line change.Point had his original shot stopped by Petr Mrazek but put home a rebound by knocking in an ankle puck.“A pretty clear offside,” Point said.Tampa Bay has 70 points with 38 games to play.Ondrej Palat also scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves. Point also had an assist.Tampa Bay is 18-2-2 against Carolina since the start of the 2012-13 season. The Lightning are 12-0-0 against the Metropolitan Division.Justin Williams picked up his 300th NHL goal for the Hurricanes, who had a five-game winning streak end. Mzarek 27 stopped shots.“It’s not easy,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “When you play a team like Tampa, we’re in a good position and then to lose it that way, that’s a tough way to lose. You almost rather lose 8-0.”The Lightning, 17-1-1 over the last 19 games Youth John Tavares Jersey , won their ninth consecutive at home.The Lightning’s NHL-best power play converted its fifth chance when Steven Stamkos‘ shot was blocked and the puck went through the slot to Palat, who tied it at 1 at 11:56 of the third.Williams opened the scoring with a rebound goal from the low left circle 4:34 into the second.Mzarek is 1-10-2 with a shutout in the regular season against the Lightning. He went 4-6 against Tampa Bay in the playoffs while with Detroit, including a key role in a near upset of the eventual Eastern Conference champion Lightning in a seven-game opening round series in 2015.“He made some real big saves,” Brind’Amour said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get enough offense to support him tonight.”Tampa Bay star Nikita Kucherov got his 72nd point with an assist. He has been held pointless in just nine games.NOTES: Tampa Bay is 6-5-0 when trailing after two periods. “It was like we were in quicksand,” Cooper said of the first two periods. . Williams has 18 goals in 52 games against Tampa Bay. … Lightning RW Ryan Callahan (upper body) missed his second straight game and is day to day. … Victor Hedman played in his 663rd game and moved past Pavel Kubina for the most by a Tampa Bay defenseman.UP NEXTHurricanes: Host Buffalo on Friday night.Lightning: At Buffalo on Saturday night. LAS VEGAS (AP) After the Winnipeg Jets lost Game 3 of the Western Conference final, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck didn’t seem fazed and spoke like a confident veteran rather than a third-year player whose team appears to be unraveling.The Vezina Trophy-finalist went as far to say he liked his game better than the guy about 200 feet across the rink – 14-year veteran Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped 33 of 35 shots and improved to 10-3 in the postseason.”I like my game, I like it a lot more,” Hellebuyck said after making 26 saves in Wednesday’s loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. ”I like my details and will continue chugging away and getting better every single day.”If Game 3 is any indication of the type of game Vegas will bring into Friday night’s Game 4, Hellebuyck needs to get better urgently.”I think we’ve been capitalizing on some chances we’ve been getting,” Vegas forward Cody Eakin said after Thursday’s practice. ”Getting to the dirty area Authentic Mitchell Marner Jersey , smackin’ `em into the blue paint. He’s a heck of a goalie and he’s played very well all season and all playoffs for them. It’s just one of things where you have a game plan, you stick to it. Whether it’s the bounces or capitalizing on a rush or whatever it may be, we’re just trying to finish every chance we get.”Like 35 seconds into Game 3, when a premature poke-check by Hellebuyck led to a goal by Jonathan Marchessault. Hellebuyck’s ill-advised mistake allowed Marchessault to use a forehand-backhand deke and give Vegas the momentum early with a 1-0 lead.In the second period, Hellebuyck went behind the net and lifted the puck to clear it but Erik Haula was there to knock it down and feed James Neal, who found the open net to give Vegas a 2-1 lead just 12 seconds after Mark Scheifele tied the score.Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice refuses to blame his goalie, though, and seemed fine Thursday, with the rather braggadocious manner Hellebuyck speaks with, despite allowing three or more goals for the second consecutive game and fifth time in his last nine games.”It’ll be across the crease, no chance in hell he’s getting that puck Morgan Rielly Jersey , and he believes he can stop that puck,” Maurice said. ”I don’t plan to stomp that mentality. He believes he can stop everyone, and then he moves on pretty darned well. He doesn’t carry it too heavy with him. He’s got confidence in the right way.”So does Fleury, who leads the NHL with a career-best 1.70 goals-against average during the playoffs. And if the Jets can’t get more production outside of Scheifele, they’ll find themselves on the brink of elimination after Friday’s game.Scheifele, who now owns the NHL record for most goals scored on the road in a single playoff with 11, has 14 goals and six assists in 15 games. But for a dangerous team that gotten this far because of its depth, guys like Vegas defensemen Nate Schmidt, Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore have shown they can keep the Jets in their own zone or disrupt things in the neutral zone.”A few miscues and they made us pay for it – that can’t happen,” said Scheifele, who has three of the Jets’ seven goals in this series. ”They’re going to have their games Womens Nazem Kadri Jersey , we’re going to have our games. We can’t sulk on this too long. We gotta pick ourselves up and be ready for a big game on Friday.”The Jets showed some life in the third period on Wednesday, and certainly outplayed what appeared to be a weary Vegas team over the final 20 minutes, but Fleury was outstanding in coming up with tremendous highlight saves to preserve the win.”I think we’re starting to get a better understanding of how we have to attack and how we have to approach the net,” Maurice said. ”At 2-1, we’re all aware that we’re down 2-1, but it’s still fairly early in the series. Both teams are going to come out guns-a-blazing and try to give the other team nothing.”History is against the Jets, who are trailing in a series for the first time this postseason. Teams with a 2-1 lead in the conference final (or NHL semifinals) have won the series 35 of 43 times (81.4 percent) since 1975.And unless Hellebuyck’s confidence translates into keeping the puck out of his net, and Scheifele gets some help at the other end, history is bound to repeat itself.—
