Lightning beat Jets 4-2

By Spectrum Sports Staff Tampa

PUBLISHED 7:34 PM ET Oct. 24, 2014

Jonathan Drouin, Vladislav Namestnikov and Ondrej Palat scored in the second period, leading the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night.

Ben Bishop made 40 saves for Tampa Bay, which has won three of four on a five-game road trip that ends at Minnesota on Saturday night. Steven Stamkos scored in the first, and Nikita Kucherov finished with three assists.

Bryan Little scored Winnipeg's first power-play goal of the season, and Blake Wheeler added his third goal in the third period.

Stamkos put the Lightning in front with his sixth goal at 4:41 of the first, completing a 2-on-1 break with Drouin. He beat Ondrej Pavelec on the goaltender's stick side.

Drouin then scored his first NHL goal in the second, and Namestnikov tipped Palat's shot past Pavelec on a power play to make it 3-1 at 12:52.

Palat beat his Czech countryman with less than two minutes to go in the period to make it 4-1. It was Palat's third of the season.

Pavelec was pulled after the second and replaced by Michael Hutchinson. Pavelec finished with 14 saves, and Hutchinson stopped nine shots.

Little's wrist shot at 5:33 of the second completed Winnipeg's first successful power play, but the Jets were shut down by Bishop for most of the night. Wheeler flipped one into an open corner of the net at 10:19 of the third.

The Lightning were well-rested after a two-day break following a pair of games in Alberta. But it has been a costly trip, with injuries to forwards Ryan Callahan, Alex Killorn and defenseman Victor Hedman, who is out four to six weeks with a fractured finger.

Tampa Bay did get Radko Gudas back on Friday night after the defenseman missed four games with a lower-body injury. He got in a scrap with Dustin Byfuglien and was slammed to the ice by the hulking Jet in the fracas.

NOTES: Andrew Ladd picked up his 199th career assist on Little's goal and needs one more goal himself to hit 100 with the franchise.