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TAMPA (www.floridasportsday.com) - The Tampa Bay Lightning opened the 2023-24 season with a 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators.
Nikita Kucherov was the first goal scorer of the 2023-24 NHL season, firing a one timer from above the right circle to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 9:48 of the first period.'
Ryan O’Reilly scored his first goal as a Predator to tie the game 1-1 at 16:15 of the second period Eleven seconds into the third period, Juuso Parssinen capitalized on a Lightning turnover and gave the Predators a 2-1 lead.
Nick Paul tied the game back up with a power-play goal, jamming at a loose puck in a net mouth scramble at 2:25 of the third period.
Brandon Hagel was awarded a penalty shot after being held while on a breakaway at 3:07 of the third period. Hagel was able to convert on the penalty shot attempt and give the Lightning a 3-2 lead at 3:07 of the third period.
Tommy Novak scored short-side high on a shot from the left circle to tie the game 3-3 for Nashville at 8:46 of the third period.
Paul scored his second power-play goal of the third period at 10:52 to give Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead.
Kucherov deposited the puck into an empty net to give the Bolts a 5-3 lead with one second remaining in regulation.
Tampa goaltender Jonas Johansson stopped 28 of the 31 shots he faced to earn his first victory in a Lightning sweater.
The Lightning improved to 20-9-2 in 31 season-opening games. Entering the game, the Bolts .667 point percentage in season-opening games was the highest among all NHL franchises (min. 10 GP). The Lightning improved to 11-7-1 with two ties all-time at home against Nashville and to 23-15-3 with two ties all-time against the Predators.
The Lightning will return to action on Saturday in Detroit to take on the Red Wings. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm.
GAME NOTES: Brayden Point skated in his 500th career NHL game and became the 13th skater in Lightning history to play 500 games with the franchise....Hagel became the first Bolt to score on a penalty shot since the 2020-21 season when Blake Coleman scored a penalty shot against Jake Oettinger and the Dallas Stars. The Lightning did not have any penalty shot attempts in 2022-23 and failed to score on two attempts in 2021-22.