Lightning hold off Oilers in overtime, 4-3

With a lineup consisting of what Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said was about "85-90 percent" of what it might look like on opening night, Tampa Bay failed to hold on to two-goal lead but rebounded for a 4-3 overtime decision against Edmonton at MTS Centre.

It was the fourth time in six games the Lightning have gone to overtime.

Martin St. Louis scored his second overtime goal of the preseason in the final minute, scoring a power-play goal with 6.6 seconds left to improve Tampa Bay's preseason record to 3-1-2.

"He's just smart, he's just dangerous on the ice," Tocchet said of St. Louis. "He's the ultimate pro."

Ryan Malone scored on a rebound of a Steven Stamkos shot at 4:13, while St. Louis fired a quick one-timer on a feed from Alex Tanguay on a power play at 17:21 for a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

The Oilers scored twice in the final five minutes of the second period, including with 27.9 seconds left, to tie it before Tom Gilbert converted a 3-on-2 break 4:13 into the third for the lead. The Oilers have lost four straight to drop to 3-4-0.

Low shots

Tampa Bay hasn't been lighting up the shot tally during the preseason, with fewer than 20 shots registered in five of the first six preseason games, including the first three on the current road swing.

"There's only been 10 days of training camp, we've played three games in three nights, so there are a lot of things contributing, most of the big guys have sat, so I think we have to let them off the hook in that sense," Tocchet said. "But I think the one thing that we are going to play is more north-south, we'll definitely funnel the puck more and go to the net than we've shown. It's not an excuse, but we have to get more pucks to the net. This tac-tac-toeing fancy stuff is not something that we are going to be about."

Downie not out

After starting scrimmages on a line with C Vinny Lecavalier and LW Tanguay, RW Steve Downie finally saw his first preseason action with the line in the second half of Wednesday's game against Phoenix, picking up an assist on a Lecavalier goal. Thursday, Downie got a full game in on that line.

"I thought Downie did a real nice job (Wednesday), so I obviously put him on that line again," Tocchet said. "Nothing is given, but the way he looked (Wednesday) I think he deserves a long look on that line."

Nuts and Bolts

Sun Sports will begin airing a season preview special on Monday at 5:30 p.m. The show will also replay that night at 11 p.m. and again on: Oct. 1 at 11 p.m.; Oct. 2 at 1 p.m. and Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. ... "Hockey Night in Canada's" Don Cherry took part in the ceremonial faceoff before the game. ... Tocchet said D Paul Ranger, who has not played in the preseason, will play in tonight's scrimmage in Norfolk, Va., and should play in the preseason finale in Atlanta on Sunday.