TAMPA, Fla. -- Ziggy Palffy had the last chance and made it count.
Palffy scored with 7.7 seconds left in overtime to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.
Palffy beat Lightning goalie John Grahame from the slot while being pulled down.
"I was a little bit lucky," Palffy said. "I just took a shot. I knew there were a couple seconds left, so I just put it on the net. It was under his pad and went in."
Los Angeles' Roman Cechmanek made 30 saves for his second shutout of the season and 22nd overall.
"We try to play hard every game," Cechmanek said. "This is our job, and we did it."
Grahame had 19 saves. The backup has allowed just two goals in 156 minutes this season.
"Both goalies played super," Tampa Bay's Brad Richards said. "It was one of those games that was going to be a battle and the slightest mistake might be the difference."
The Lightning lost their second straight game after opening the season with an eight-game unbeaten streak. Tampa Bay 7-1-1-1 has earned standings points in nine of 10 games.
Los Angeles has won four straight road games. The Kings also snapped a six-game winless streak (0-4-2) against the Lightning.
After a lackluster first period that had a combined eight shots, the teams picked up the tempo in the second.
Grahame kept it scoreless by making an arm save at the 3-minute mark during a breakaway by Palffy.
Cechmanek made a glove save soon after on Andre Roy's left-circle shot and stopped an in-close chance by Dmitry Afanasenkov.
Grahame also made a strong save on Luc Robitaille's shot from the low slot with six minutes left in the second.
Robitaille had a shot from the left circle turned aside by Grahame with 3:40 left in overtime. Palffy hit the crossbar one minute later.
"We went for the win in overtime," Kings coach Andy Murray said. "We played three forwards and one defenseman in one out of every three shifts. It's a non-conference opponent, so you try to go for it a little bit more."
Cechmanek then stopped Vincent Lecavalier during a two-on-one with 90 seconds remaining.
"We played with a lot of intensity," Lecavalier said. "We just have to bury our chances when we have them. I had a great chance at the end of the game and just shot the puck high. It was close, but not close enough."
Referees Mike Hasenfratz and Dennis LaRue called just two penalties -- both against the Kings. It's the first time Tampa Bay has played a penalty-free game.
Notes
- Cechmanek, with Philadelphia at the time, was the opposing goalie in Tampa Bay's only 0-0 tie, on Feb. 24, 2001. The Lightning goalie was Kevin Weekes.
- Los Angeles has played 11 scoreless ties.
- Kings D Joe Corvo did not play. He completed a three-game team suspension on Wednesday.
- Lightning RW Ben Clymer, who has no points in six games, was a healthy scratch.
- Tampa Bay RW Ruslan Fedotenko returned after sitting out the previous two games.
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