{"id":531311,"date":"2026-03-30T16:57:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T16:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/531311\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T16:57:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T16:57:16","slug":"lightning-defeat-predators-3-2-move-to-first-in-atlantic-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/531311\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightning Defeat Predators 3-2, Move to First in Atlantic Division"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lightning added two more points to their total on Sunday, hosting the Nashville Predators at Benchmark International Arena. The game was back and forth throughout, with both teams coming off back-to-back games and running on fumes amid a condensed schedule as the regular season winds down. It wasn\u2019t pretty by any means, but the Lightning got it done.<\/p>\n

After a scoreless first period, Joakim Kemell scored his first NHL goal in the second period, giving Nashville a 1-0 lead. Kemell was pushed from behind by Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak<\/a>, sending both him and the puck into the net with Jonas Johansson catching him. The call was eventually confirmed after a review.<\/p>\n

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The Lightning didn\u2019t record their first shot on goal until 17-minutes in, and it stood as their only one in the first period. The team came out for the second with more pace to their game.<\/p>\n

Jake Guentzel<\/a>\u00a0tied it up 1-1 after Darren Raddysh<\/a> fired a shot toward the net that Gage Goncalves attempted to redirect. The puck kicked back out to Guentzel, who buried it past Justus Annunen.<\/p>\n

“For some reason we haven’t started on time for the last four or five (games),” Guentzel said. “But the push back and the belief in the group. We believe we’re never out of it, and that’s a good trait to have.”<\/p>\n

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Brandon Hagel<\/a> gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead at 4:33 of the third period, snapping a shot to the far post. The crowd erupted, but it didn\u2019t last long, as Filip Forsberg quickly responded to tie it 2-2.<\/p>\n

\"\u00a9<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Corey Perry gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead at 6:52 of the third period, when Emil Lilleberg attempted to feed the puck to Guentzel for a redirection, but it slipped through Annunen\u2019s pads, allowing Perry to jam it across the line.<\/p>\n

The Lightning had to operate the power play without Nikita Kucherov, who missed his second consecutive game with an illness.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou can’t replicate him not being there, but at the same time, there’s an opportunity for somebody else,\u201d said Perry. \u201cWe didn’t have the crispness that we’d want, but we found a way to get one after the power play again in that second period. It’s just momentum. That’s what we talk about all the time. You don’t have to score every single time, but it’s about momentum.”<\/p>\n

The Lightning have gotten off to a slow start in their last handful of games, something head coach Jon Cooper attributes to fatigue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love them. They\u2019re the best,\u201d he said of his team. \u201cThey\u2019re like my kids, and sometimes you have to reprimand them. But this group just has an innate ability to right the ship. Most nights they don\u2019t need me; some nights they do, and I just think fatigue is playing a major part in this whole thing. You can feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The back-to-back wins moved Tampa Bay into first place in the Atlantic Division by point percentage at 46-21-6 (98 points), and into the top spot in the Eastern Conference overall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lightning added two more points to their total on Sunday, hosting the Nashville Predators at Benchmark International…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5105],"tags":[97,869,2580,6713,2312,3577,3309,5,1331,9373,5630,4156,189,231,4,1335,540,92,5168,5167],"class_list":{"0":"post-531311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-lightning","8":"tag-brandon-hagel","9":"tag-corey-perry","10":"tag-darren-raddysh","11":"tag-emil-lilleberg","12":"tag-erik-cernak","13":"tag-filip-forsberg","14":"tag-gage-goncalves","15":"tag-hockey","16":"tag-jake-guentzel","17":"tag-joakim-kemell","18":"tag-jonas-johansson","19":"tag-justus-annunen","20":"tag-lightning","21":"tag-nashville-predators","22":"tag-nhl","23":"tag-nikita-kucherov","24":"tag-tampa-bay","25":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","26":"tag-tampabay","27":"tag-tampabaylightning"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116319188207890489","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}