TAMPA, Fla. — Entering the season, Steven Stamkos was prepared to reach a handful of milestones.
He is 11 points away from 1,000, 11 goals away from 500 and now, he has hit 500 assists in his 15-year career.
“For a guy that had a lot of people think he’s just a shooter, I’ll rub that in their face a little bit (that) I got the assists first," Stamkos said with a laugh.
The captain is now the second player in franchise history to reach the 500-assist mark joining his good friend Martin St. Louis who leads the franchise with 588 helpers.
“I’ve played obviously a long time. I’ve played with some really amazing players and I’ve gotten the opportunity to have a lot great memories in this league and hopefully many more," Stamkos said. "It’s pretty cool to do it, especially at home and in a win.”
Alex Killorn scored from the left circle on a 2-on-1 at 3:43 of overtime, helped by Stamkos, to help his team beat the Dallas Stars 5-4 on Tuesday night.
Radek Faksa made it 4-4 with 4:42 left in the third period, picking up the Stars’ fourth short-handed goal after stealing the puck from Mikhail Sergachev deep in the Lightning zone. Tampa Bay has given up five short-handers, which leads the NHL. It also ties their mark from last season in just 16 games.
Ross Colton, Nick Paul, Stamkos and Ian Cole (first goal with the Lightning) provided the regulation goals for the Bolts.
They are now 9-6-1 on the season with 19 points joining seven other Eastern Conference teams with, at least, 19 points on the young year.
The Lightning welcome another Western Conference hockey team to AMALIE Arena on Thursday with Calgary coming to town.