Stamkos’ tip-in in OT lifts Lightning to 4-3 win, hands Thrashers third straight loss

Stamkos’ tip-in gives Tampa Bay 4-3 OT win

ATLANTA — Steven Stamkos scored his 15th goal at 2:56 of overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning their second straight win, 4-3 over the Atlanta Thrashers on Sunday.

The Thrashers, who ended five-game homestand with three straight losses, tied it 3-3 on Slava Kozlov’s second goal and rookie Evander Kane’s seventh during a 1:52 span late in the third period.

But Stamkos, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 draft, ended the game by taking Martin St. Louis’ pass from the left circle and beating Atlanta goaltender Ondrej Pavelec with a tip-in.

Lightning goaltender Antero Niittymaki, who has won 15 straight against the Southeast Division and three of four overall, improved to 15-0-0 in his career against Atlanta.

Niittymaki stopped 28 of 31 shots to show why he began the game leading the NHL with a 1.93 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage.

Improving to 6-1-3 in his first season with Tampa Bay, Niittymaki didn’t face a shot in overtime.

Stephane Veilleux’s first goal of the season gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead 5:45 into the second. With just 24 seconds left in the period, Ryan Malone used a wrister to score his 14th goal and put Tampa Bay up 2-0.

Atlanta made it 2-1 on Tobias Enstrom’s third goal, a wrister from the slot, with 14:31 remaining.

Defenseman Kurtis Foster put the Lightning ahead by two goals again, however, with his first goal. Foster’s slap shot was the game’s only power play goal.