TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning blew a three-goal lead in the final period, needed a late goal just to force overtime and still managed to escape with a win Thursday.

Center Steven Stamkos scoring the winning goal in the fifth frame of shootout to give the Lightning a 6-5 win over the Winnipeg Jets at Amalie Arena.

"It was our special teams that let us down -- you give up a shorty and two power play goals and we didn't do anything with ours," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who called a team meeting after a win. "That was the essence of what changed the game."

Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped four shots in shootout, and Stamkos beat Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec to salvage the win for the Lightning (31-22-4), who had lost four of five games.

Winnipeg (25-28-4) rallied to gain an unlikely point in the standings.

"Are there things we need to fix that have been happening to us of late? No question," Cooper said. "But we were down a goal with five to go and found a way to win the game."

Tampa Bay got a flurry of three goals in the final five minutes of the first period, then saw a 4-1 lead disappear in the third period when Winnipeg surged ahead 5-4 with 5:20 to play.

Just as it looked as if an easy win had slipped away, the Lightning tied the game 24 seconds later as right winger Nikita Kucherov scored his 24th goal of the season to retake the team scoring lead and tie the game at 5-5 with 4:56 remaining.

The Lightning led 4-1 in the third after center Alex Killorn scored his 10th goal off a pass from right winger Ryan Callahan with 18:00 left, but Winnipeg scored four goals in a span of 7:07 against Vasilevskiy to tie the game. Center Mathieu Perreault put the Jets ahead with 5:20 left, scoring on the power play for his ninth goal of the season.

The comeback started when center Mark Scheifele scored a power-play goal -- his 13th overall on the season -- to make it 4-2 with 13:59 left. Left winger Andrew Ladd added a short-handed goal to cut the lead to 4-3 with 12:27 left.

The Jets tied the game with 7:16 left as Ladd scored again -- this time, off the skate of Lightning forward Ondrej Palat as the puck bounced off him and into the far side of the goal past Vasilevskiy. Ladd's second goal of the period was his 15th of the season.

The Lightning jumped ahead with three goals in a span of four shots in the final five minutes of the opening period, matching their best scoring of any period all season.

Defenseman Victor Hedman got it started, scoring his sixth goal of the season -- and first at home -- off a drop pass from right winger J.T. Brown.

That goal came with 4:22 left in the first, and the Lightning struck again with 2:08 left, as center Jonathan Marchessault got his first goal since December and seventh of the season. Forward Alex Killorn stole the puck behind the goal and fed it to Marchessault, who fired a shot past Pavelec before the goalie could get in position.

The flurry continued as Stamkos scored his 23rd goal of the season with 21 seconds left in the period to make it 3-0. Stamkos scored on a rebound off a glove save by Pavelec.

Winnipeg got on the scoreboard late in the second, with defenseman Tyler Myers scoring his sixth goal on a long, well-screened shot to beat Vasilevskiy and make it a 3-1 game with 6:15 left.

Jets coach Paul Maurice earned a bench minor for arguing a call late in the second period. Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman put a hard shoulder into center Bryan Little as he lost his balance, but the play netted the Lightning a five-on-three power play between a four-minute roughing penalty and the bench minor. Winnipeg killed off the two-man advantage, but Maurice was given a game misconduct, getting sent to the locker room at the start of the third and he continued to argue with officials.

"I was upset because you work with these guys every day. You care about them, about their wives and their families. Bryan LIttle's getting his neck X-rayed and I seem to be considerably more concerned about the result of that hit than anyone else," Maurice said. "(On video circulating of an official laughing after the hit) I think that would have been consistent with their overall demeanor regarding the whole incident.

Vasilevskiy finished with 36 saves, while Pavelec stopped 21 shots. Winnipeg players said they were motivated in the third period after the hit on Little.

"You don't want to see that. Litts, I understand he's probably in a vulnerable spot. I think he's stumbling for three or four steps. As a d-man, you know he's in a vulnerable spot. Do you need to try to take his head off? I don't think so," Ladd said. "It's a clear ... shot. Hopefully the league looks at it and takes care of it."

NOTES: The Lightning played a second consecutive game without C Vladislav Namestnikov, who suffered an upper-body injury Sunday against St. Louis. RW Erik Condra was a healthy scratch. ... Winnipeg played a second game without D Mark Stuart with an upper-body injury, while D Adam Pardy and C Andrew Copp as healthy scratches. ... Lightning LW Ondrej Palat had been slowed by illness but still dressed for Thursday night's game. The team has had a bout with illness, with coach Jon Cooper even limited this week.