SUNRISE, Fla. Dominic Raiola . -- Steven Stamkos has been practicing his shootout moves, and it paid off on Sunday. Stamkos scored the deciding goal in the tiebreaker to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers. Valtteri Filppula also scored in the shootout. Stamkos was just 5 for 27 in the shootout coming into the game, but he made some nice moves to slip the puck past Jacob Markstrom on his left side for the deciding goal in Tampa Bays fourth slot. "Its something that I struggled with in the past but practice does help with certain moves," Stamkos said. "I probably wasnt going to be in the first three but I was glad to go in there and help the team win in any situation. Its nice to see one go in and even nicer to help your team win in that situation." Stamkos, Radko Gudas, and Martin St. Louis scored in regulation for Tampa Bay, which has won five of six. Anders Lindback stopped 29 shots and turned aside three of four Florida shooters in the tiebreaker. Stamkos also had an assist. Lindback got his first win of the season. "We got another two points. Obviously for me coming in and winning a game, its nice," said Lindback, who started in the second half of back-to-back games in place of Ben Bishop. "He stopped a couple of their guys in the shootout," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Thats where you need your goalie to stand up and win a game. He did that for us tonight." Brad Boyes, Nick Bjugstad and Shawn Matthias scored, and Markstrom made 25 saves for Florida. Boyes also had a shootout goal. Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, and Dmitry Kulikov all missed. The Panthers lost for the fifth time in seven games, including two shootouts. "Unfortunately, we end up on the wrong end of these (shootouts) right now, but theres guys that are pushing hard and thats what we have to keep doing," Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said. Florida rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third period. The Panthers closed to 3-2 on Bjugstads goal at 5:39 when he tipped in Scottie Upshalls shot from the point. Florida tied it when Boyes grabbed an errant puck and backhanded it under Lindbacks pads from in front at 8:51. Boyes leads the Panthers with five goals, but this was his first in seven games. Tampa Bay stretched its lead to 3-1 during a power play in the second period. Gudas took a wrist shot from just inside the blue line that deflected off Floridas Mike Weaver and got past Markstrom at 9:58. Gudas got a game misconduct at 12:51 of the third when he slashed at the boards in front of the Panthers bench after being squirted with water by Upshall, who received an unsportsmanlike conduct call. Florida closed to 2-1 on Matthias first goal of the season. Matthias grabbed a puck in traffic in front of the crease and slipped it behind Lindback at 13:48 of the first. It was Matthias first goal in 23 games, dating to last season. "Its tough going down 2-0 early like that, but we played really hard and battled back," Matthias said. "Its tough to have the final outcome happen." The Lightning scored two goals on their first three shots, including on just 41 seconds into the game. Stamkos passed from the top of the right circle to St. Louis, who poked in the puck from in front. St. Louis has scored in three straight games. Stamkos made it 2-0 at 4:35. Markstrom blocked a shot by Ryan Malone, but the long rebound went out to Stamkos in the right circle for a slap shot. The Lightning improved to 8-3. "Its probably the quietest 8-3 record in the league and we like it that way," Stamkos said. NOTES: Stamkos leads the Lightning with eight goals and 17 points. ... St. Louis has seven goals and 14 points in his past 10 games. ... Matthias previous goal was March 30 against New Jersey. ... Florida LW Tomas Fleischmann was scratched due to illness. Eric Ebron . PETERSBURG, Fla. Jed Collins . "[People] keep asking that question and its not a legit question because we dont have that right, we havent arrived yet," Casey responded. "Weve got to take each game at a time, each possession at a time and look at it that way. LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw agreed Wednesday to a $215 million, seven-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press, a deal that makes the two-time Cy Young Award winner baseballs first player with a $30 million average salary. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not yet been announced. Kershaw receives the most lucrative deal for a pitcher, breaking the mark of $180 million set by Justin Verlander last March for his seven-year contract with Detroit. Kershaw would have been eligible for free agency after the upcoming season if the new deal hadnt been reached. He was eligible for salary arbitration, and those figures were set to be exchanged on Friday. He was coming off a two-year, $20 million deal that included $200,000 in bonuses in 2012, a $500,000 escalator to his 2013 base salary, and $300,000 in bonuses last year. General manager Ned Colletti said last week that both sides had been negotiating. "Its our desire to sign him here for a very long time," Colletti said. The average salary of $30.7 million tops the previous high of $27.5 million, set by the New York Yankees Alex Rodriguez as part of a 10-year agreement from December 2007. While Roger Clemens had a contract with a listed salary of $28 million with the Yankees in 2007, he joined the team in June and actually made $17.4 million. The Dodgers had baseballs second-highest payroll at the end of the regular season last fall -- more than $236 million. Kershaws agreement, first reported by ESPN.com, is baseballs seventh of $200 million or more. Among current contracts, it trails only the agreements of Rodriguez, Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto ($251.5 million over 12 years), Los Angeles Angels ffirst baseman Albert Pujols ($240 million over 10 years) and Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano ($240 million over 10 years). Ryan Broyles. A left-hander who turns 26 in March, Kershaw won NL Cy Young Awards in 2011 and 2013. He was 16-9 for the NL West champion Dodgers last year and led the league with 232 strikeouts, and his 1.83 ERA was the best in the major leagues since Pedro Martinezs 1.74 for Boston in 2000. He has led the NL in ERA in each of the last three years. Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis tweeted: "Big winner today......me. I am blessed to catch best in the game for foreseeable future God willing. Congrats Kersh!" Teammate Matt Kemp chimed in, tweeting, "Congrats 2 the best pitcher in baseball and great teammate (at)ClaytonKersh22 on his deal!" Kershaw has been a powerful, yet low-key, presence on the team. In the off-season, the Dallas native has worked to build a charitable legacy alongside his wife, Ellen. The couple has made yearly trips to Africa, where his foundation that focuses on helping at-risk children built an orphanage. The deal signifies further stability for a club that was in turmoil under former owner Frank McCourt, who sold the team to a group that includes Magic Johnson in 2012. The Dodgers signed manager Don Mattingly to a three-year deal last week and now have locked up their ace. Last year, Kershaw pitched a career-high 259 innings between the regular season and the playoffs. The season ended on a sour note when he pitched a rare clunker in the Dodgers 9-0 loss to St. Louis in the NL championship series that eliminated them. Still up for discussion this winter is a new deal for Hanley Ramirez, who hit a team-leading .345 and played hurt during the NLCS. He has one year left on his contract. ' ' '
