Carlson scored a power-play goal and added four assists, one of them with the man advantage, in Wednesday's 8-3 win over Buffalo.
The veteran blueliner gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead in the final minute of the first period, completing a tic-tac-toe passing play, and he had a hand in a Brandon Hagel tally early in the second, but Carlson's big night didn't really get rolling until the final frame when he helped set up all three goals in Nikita Kucherov's natural hat trick. The five points were a single-game career high for Carlson, and on the season he's collected six goals and 15 points in 18 contests to begin his first campaign in Tampa Bay.