Pontus Holmberg spent 3:07 of the second period making Tampa Bay’s scoring menu unusually expansive. He assisted on a power-play goal, a defenseman’s even-strength finish and Brandon Hagel’s goal, helping the Lightning turn a one-goal game into a 5-1 advantage. Then Winnipeg made that cushion look less like a plan than a temporary administrative error.
The Lightning beat Winnipeg 6-4 Thursday at Benchmark International Arena, improving to 8-3-1. Holmberg finished with a goal and three assists, all three assists arriving in the second period before he added an empty-net goal late in the third. The individual performance was significant because the Lightning received meaningful production beyond their most recognizable names.
The shaky finish was significant because it prevented the night from serving as a polished example of how that formula should work.
Holmberg’s second-period stretch began at 15:56, when Anthony Cirelli scored Tampa Bay’s only power-play goal of the night. Holmberg and Gage Goncalves were credited with assists. At 18:07, John Carlson scored at even strength, with Holmberg and Hagel receiving the assists. Fifty-six seconds later, Hagel scored, assisted by Cirelli and Holmberg.
Holmberg’s three assists also linked him to two teammates with substantial scoring nights. Cirelli and Hagel each finished with a goal and two assists. Kucherov contributed an assist on Brayden Point’s opening goal, but Tampa Bay did not depend on that familiar connection to build its second-period lead. Holmberg’s work ran through another part of the lineup.
Tampa Bay’s four-goal second period began before Holmberg’s assist parade. Conor Geekie scored at 9:43 to restore the Lightning’s lead at 2-1 after Neal Pionk had tied the game in the first. Cirelli, Carlson and Hagel followed, producing the 5-1 margin.
Brayden Point had opened the scoring at 2:20, with Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel assisting, so the familiar core still contributed. It simply did not have to carry the entire ledger.
That distinction is useful for Tampa Bay. Hagel ended with a goal and two assists, while Cirelli had a goal and two assists. Point scored, and Kucherov and Guentzel each added a point, but the decisive middle-period burst also included Geekie, Carlson and Holmberg.
The Lightning finished with 31 shots and converted once on three power plays. The offense had several routes to the result instead of waiting for one elite line to manufacture every answer.
Winnipeg’s response made the victory considerably less tidy. Dylan Samberg scored at 7:00 of the third period to make it 5-2. Pionk scored at 8:50, and Kyle Connor cut the deficit to 5-4 at 17:12.
Pionk finished with two goals, including the first-period equalizer and the third-period strike. Mark Scheifele collected three assists: one on Pionk’s first goal, one on Samberg’s goal and one on Connor’s. Cole Perfetti assisted on Pionk’s first-period goal and Samberg’s third-period goal, while Dawson Mercer and Connor assisted on Pionk’s third-period goal.
