Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Ben Bishop (30) is congratulated by teammates after they defeat the Winnipeg Jets at the MTS Centre. Tampa Bay win 4-2.Bruce Fedyck
A well-rested Tampa Bay Lightning got off half as many shots at one point but made a lot more count as they beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-2 Friday night behind solid goaltending from Ben Bishop.
Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Drouin, Vladislav Namestnikov and Ondrej Palat scored as the Lightning (5-2-1) took the fourth game of a five-game road trip that has seen them go 3-1-0. Nikita Kucherov picked up three assists for Tampa.
Bryan Little scored a moral victory for the Jets (2-5-0) when his wrist shot from the slot at 5:33 of the second period finally made Winnipeg's power play successful and brought the Jets within one goal for a few minutes at least.
It was the Jets first power-play goal of the season. Blake Wheeler scored the Jets' second goal in the third period.
Lightning sniper Stamkos scored his sixth goal of the season for Tampa Bay at 4:41 of the first to get things started off a feed from Drouin. They got a two-on-one against Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec after a missed pinch.
It was Stamkos who finished the give-and-go with a puck on Pavelec's stick side the Winnipeg goalie had little chance of stopping.
Drouin added his own at 4:45 of the second, his NHL first, and Namestnikov tipped Palat's shot past Pavelec on a power play at 12:52 to make it 3-1.
Then Palat put one of his own past his Czech countryman with less than two minutes to go in the period to make it 4-1.
Pavelec was pulled after the second and replaced by Michael Hutchinson.
At one point the Jets were ahead 28-12 on shots in the second but they just couldn't get anything past Bishop.
They kept up the pressure and Wheeler was finally rewarded when he flipped one into an open corner of Bishop's net at 10:19 of the third.
The Jets finished the game ahead on shots 42-27.
Winnipeg's power play continued to fail them in the first, even with a five-on-three, although it helped them take a 16-12 lead in shots at the end of the period. But there was a huge roar of approval from the crowd when Little finally broke the jinx.
Their best pressure and some of their best scoring chances followed the five-on-three power-play and Tampa Bay called a time out to slow things down.
The Lightning were well-rested after a two-day break following a pair of games in Alberta. They end their road trip Saturday in Minnesota.
They trek was costly with injuries to forwards Ryan Callahan, Alex Killorn and defenceman Victor Hedman, who is out four to six weeks with a fractured finger.
But defenceman Radko Gudas returned to the lineup Friday night after missing four games with a lower-body injury. He got in a scrap with Dustin Byfuglien after a high stick that gave Winnipeg their five-on-three and was slammed to the ice by the hulking Jet in the fracas.
Notes: Andrew Ladd picked up his 199th career assist Friday night on Little's goal and needs only one more goal himself to hit 100 with the franchise.