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Lightning defenceman Mattias Ohlund, left, helps goalie Antero Niittymaki defend against the Flames’ Matt Stajan on Saturday night in Tampa, Fla. (J. Meric/Associated Press)

Tampa Bay capitalized on a rare third-period letdown by Calgary.

Andrej Meszaros scored 1:58 into overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Flames 2-1 on Saturday night in Florida.

“It’s a huge sign being able to win a game like this,” said Tampa Bay right wing Martin St. Louis.

Meszaros’ winner came from the left circle to complete Tampa Bay’s comeback from a 1-0 deficit after the second period.

Steven Stamkos also scored for the Lightning, who have won seven of 10. Goalie Antero Niittymaki improved to 6-0-1 over his last seven starts.

Calgary got a goal from Mark Giordano. The Flames dropped to 23-2-2 when leading at the start of the third.

“They got some momentum and they’re a excellent offensive team,” said Calgary captain Jarome Iginla. “Once they get a small jump, especially at home, they start bringing it.”

The Flames were coming off a 2-1 win over Florida on Friday night, a game in which they allowed just 13 shots. Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 21 shots Saturday, including all 10 he faced through two periods.

“We’ll take the positives and go on,” said Iginla.

Giordano place the Flames up 1-0 on a power-play goal with 4:16 left in the first. Stamkos tied it at 1 with a rebound goal a minute into the third.

Stamkos has seven goals and 14 points during a nine-game point streak.

Calgary’s Ales Kotalik received a fighting major and game misconduct after a fight with the Lightning’s Stephane Veilleux late in the first period. The teams combined for 14 penalties and 16 shots during the first. The game misconduct stemmed from the right wing’s sweater not being tied down.

“That was one of the toughest games for grinding it out,” said Lightning coach Rick Tocchet.

“Everybody contributed. That’s the kind of team we have to be.”

The Flames are 8-2-2 — including 3-0-1 in games with Southeast Division teams — against the Eastern Conference this season

“We got a point and go on,” said Flames coach Brent Sutter. “It was there for us to have two, no question. We came up a small small.”

Calgary and Tampa Bay have had small success since meeting in the 2004 Stanley Cup finals. Neither has won a playoff series since, and the Lightning finished last and next-to-last overall the past two seasons.

New Jersey scored huge by acquiring sniper Ilya Kovalcuk from Atlanta on Thursday. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Atlanta Thrashers general manager Don Waddell got taken on the Ilya Kovalchuk deal, Hockey Night in Canada analyst Mike Milbury told the Hotstove segment on Saturday night.

Kovalchuk was dealt, along with Anssi Salmela, to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday for defenceman Johnny Oduya, rookie Niclas Bergfors, prospect Patrice Cormier and a first-round draft pick.

Milbury was highly critical of the Thrashers’ GM, and doesn’t believe Waddell got honest value in return for his star.

“I reckon he misplayed his hand, and I reckon he terribly misplayed his hand,” Milbury said.

Waddell was unable to reach a deal in the off-season on a contract extension with Kovalchuk, who is set to become an unrestricted free-agent this summer. Milbury believed Waddell hastily pulled the trigger on a deal, with the March 3 trade deadline approaching.

“I don’t reckon he shopped it on time, and I don’t reckon he shopped it properly,” Milbury said.

Waddell didn’t allow other teams to talk to Kovalchuk about the possibility of re-signing the Russian sniper after his contract runs out this season. That reduced his value, making him strictly a rental player, Milbury said.

Milbury, a former Boston Bruins’ GM, let the criticism glide for his former colleague, saying Waddell has a history of making terrible trades. He pointed to the Marion Hossa deal in 2008, which saw the Thrashers send the star forward, along with Pascal Dupuis to Pittsburgh for Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, prospect Angelo Esposito, and a 2008 first-round pick.

Only one of those players, Armstrong, remains on the Thrashers roster.

“Not very excellent return,” Milbury said. “He should have learned from that deal.”

HNIC contributor Pierre LeBrun came to Waddell’s defence, saying that eight GMs felt the Thrashers got the best they could given the circumstances, since Kovalchuk was clearly a rental player only.

Waddell revealed that he was willing to make Kovalchuk the highest paid player in the NHL, but Kovalchuk turned down a 12-year, $101-million US offer, and a seven-season, $70-million deal.

But, Waddell made those huge money offers recently, not in the off-season, and Kovalchuk had apparently already made up his mind that he wanted to test the free-agent waters — with a goal of heading to a contending team.

Losing Kovalchuk leaves a huge hole for Atlanta.

“You cannot let a star player get into his last year before free agency without signing him,” HNIC’s Elliotte Friedman said. “Unless you feel you can win it all.”

Toronto teammages congratulate Luke Schenn on his first-period goal against visiting on Saturday. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

The best way the Toronto Maple Leafs could help their general manager grieve the loss of his son was to beat the provincial rival Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

The Leafs did just that and dedicated their impressive 5-0 victory to 21-year-ancient Brendan Burke, who was killed along with his friend, Mark A. Reedy, on Friday afternoon in a traffic accident.

The 2004 Jeep Cherokee that Burke and Reedy were in slid into oncoming traffic and crashed into a pickup truck on a snowy highway in Indiana’s Wayne County near the Ohio border. The driver of the pickup truck escaped injury, but both Burke and Reedy were declared dead at the scene.

Saturday’s loss in Toronto snapped the Senators’ franchise record 11-game victory string.

Leafs goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere and defenceman Francois Beauchemin knew the younger Burke the best because when they won the 2006-07 Stanley Cup with Anaheim, they celebrated the championship with Brendan when his father was the Ducks’ general manager.

The 32-year-ancient Giguere has yet to give up a goal in two games since he was re-bought by Burke last Sunday. He made 30 saves for his 34th career shutout. Beauchemin played alongside newcomer Dion Phaneuf and the pair shut down Ottawa’s top line of Jason Spezza, captain Daniel Alfredsson and Milan Michalek.

The two youngest Leafs and closest to Brendan Burke’s age, forward Phil Kessel and defenceman Luke Schenn, each scored twice in the victory. The 22-year-ancient Kessel hit the 20-goal mark in his 47th game of the season. The 20-year-ancient Schenn, who has struggled at times, played arguably his best game this year.

This was one of Toronto’s best efforts of the season, thanks to a strong physical game and swift transition. The Leafs built a 3-0 advantage in the first period and went up 4-0 in the second period.

Even the usually passive Air Canada Centre crowd was electric as the full house of 19,246 whooped it up late in the game with the wave as well as boisterous “Go Leafs Go” and “Ottawa sucks” chants.

When the Leafs went up 3-0 on rookie Tyler Bozak’s fluky goal late in the first period, there was a wait-and-see feeling in the building because last week, Toronto allowed a three-goal advantage to turn into a 5-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks and the Leafs failed to hold a late-game 3-1 lead in New Jersey on Friday.

Kessel scored first on a rebound and then Schenn blasted a hard shot from the top of the face-off circle that beat Brian Elliott. It was a soft goal, but this was the same goaltender who won nine in a row for the Senators.

After the second period, Ottawa coach Cory Clouston replaced Elliott with Pascal Leclaire, who had not seen action in 11 games.

Schenn beat Leclaire midway through the final 20 minutes.

The Leafs outshot Ottawa 37-30.