Blackhawks lose in shootout

TAMPA, Fla. — On a night when Steven Stamkos scored his NHL-leading 42nd goal, the Tampa Bay Lightning broke out of a puzzling offensive funk before finishing off the Blackhawks with a little pizazz.

Martin St. Louis scored in regulation, then delivered the shootout winner in a 4-3 victory that ended a season-high four-game losing streak.

The six-time all-star spun in front of the net, set himself and fired the puck past goalie Corey Crawford for the only goal by either team in the shootout.

“I find I have more success when I go have fun with it. I feel like if I try to keep it simple, I beat myself,” said St. Louis, who used similar moves during the NHL's SuperSkills competition in January.

“I was just thinking about the All-Star Game. There is no pressure, and I just got out there and did some funky stuff ... and I got a good result. I was trying to do something similar to that.”

Teddy Purcell also scored for the Tampa Bay, helping build a 3-1 lead before the Stanley Cup champions roared back on goals by Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews.

Dwayne Roloson made 28 saves for the Lightning, then stopped Toews, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa in the shootout.

“It's a huge win,” St. Louis said. “We've been playing pretty good hockey, we just haven't gotten the results. ... This time of year, it's all about results.”

The loss was the second straight for the Blackhawks following a season-best eight-game winning streak.

A poor first period cost the Blackhawks in a 3-2 loss to Florida that stopped their winning streak Tuesday night. The Panthers scored 3 early goals against Crawford, who gave up 3 more in the first 22 minutes against Tampa Bay.

Kane scored in the opening period. Sharp's 34th of the season pulled the Blackhawks to 3-2.

Toews, who had a nine-game points streak stopped against Florida, had assists on the Blackhawks' first 2 goals and tied it at 3-3 with 16:30 remaining in regulation.

“It's tough because we worked really hard to get back in that game,” Toews said.

“We were down by 2 and they had a lot of things going for them early in the game,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “I thought we chipped away and did what we had to do. It would have been nice to get 2 (points) at the end.”