TAMPA, Fla. -- The Winnipeg Jets appeared headed for their fourth loss in five games. Then midway through the third period, things suddenly changed.
Drew Stafford and Blake Wheeler scored third-period goals as the Jets rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Saturday night.
Ondrej Pavelec made 15 saves for the Jets, who are in the mix for a Western Conference wild-card spot.
"You want to talk about gutting out a win, character, all those cliches, that fits the bill tonight," Stafford said.
Nikita Kucherov scored for the Lighting, who dropped two points behind Atlantic Division-leading Montreal. Tampa Bay hosts the Canadiens Monday night.
"The result was justified," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "We didn't match their intensity."
Wheeler put the Jets up 2-1 with 7:16 to play after stealing the puck in the Tampa Bay zone, making a nice stick-handling move on Anton Stralman and beating Andrei Vasilevskiy from the right circle.
"You're starting to wonder a little bit if the nightmare was going to continue," Wheeler said.
Stafford had tied it at 1 at the 10-minute mark after Kucherov had been given a 5-minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct after sending Toby Enstrom hard into the end boards at 8:01.
Enstrom skated off the ice holding a towel to the side of his face. The defenceman returned later in the period.
Kucherov opened the scoring 4:13 into the third with a shot from the top of right circle.
Vasilevskiy made a nice save early in the first on Andrew Ladd. He finished with 27 saves.
Pavelec stopped Tyler Johnson's left circle shot during a power play in the final minute of the period.
Winnipeg's Jim Slater had his point blank shot turned aside, while Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman was denied on an in-close backhander during the second.
Jets centre Mark Scheifele was out briefly in the second after an open ice hit 3 minutes into the period by Stralman, who was given a tripping penalty.
Winnipeg's Michael Frolik had his eight-game point streak (five goals, eight points) end.
