TAMPA BAY-- The Anaheim Ducks scored two goals in 48 seconds in the third period to break a 1-1 tie & beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Tampa Bay entered the game having scored the opening goal in each of their last three games, leading to their three game-winning streak. But neither team clearly dominated play in the first 10 minutes of the first period, even with the Lightning having the first man advantage of the game, less than 90 seconds into the contest.
The Lightning did own the shot advantage early on, getting seven shots on Miller. But the Ducks may have had the best scoring chance in the first 15 minutes of the period when Domingue lost his stick after a collision & had to make a save on a shot by forward Rickard Rakell without his stick. Domingue was able to fight that shot off & his stick was eventually retrieved by defenseman Ryan McDonagh.
Domingue best save of the first period may have been when he stopped a shot by Ducks defenseman Andy Welinski, who came down the right side & put a low shot on net that the goalie was able to handle. Ducks forward Ondrej Kase missed on a rebound attempt & the first 20 minutes of the game ended with no scoring.
The shots on goal at the start of second period were 10-9 in favor of Tampa Bay. But because of a slashing penalty to forward Nikita Kucherov with seconds left in the first period, Anaheim started the middle 20 minutes on the power play.
Tampa Bay successfully killed off the penalty. And less than three minutes later, with the line of Yanni Gourde, J.T. Miller & Steven Stamkos on the ice, the Lightning were able to put some scoring chances together, the best chance when Stamkos hit the crossbar with a shot from inside both circles.
The Lightning had several opportunities again to take their zero off the scorebaord including a shot from forward Brayden Point, who was set up on a pass from forward Tyler Johnson but was unable to beat Miller. And forward Alex Killorn took a feed from defenseman Mikhail Sergachev but the one-timer attempt from the Lightning forward was stopped by Miller.
With their goalie keeping the Lightning off the scoreboard, the Ducks were able to break the scoreless tie with some physical play in the Lightning zone. After taking a hit from Ducks forward Nick Ritchie, Sergachev lost the puck near the Lightning net & forward Adam Henrique picked up the loose puck. He was unable to jam the puck into the net, but the puck slid back to Josh Manson. And the Ducks' forward buried a shot past Domingue for the first goal of the goal.
It took nearly seven minutes but Tampa Bay got the game tying goal when after taking a pass from McDonagh, Kucherov made a push into the offensive zone & fired a pass to Point who then slapped a shot past Miller while skating toward the front of the Anaheim net. Point's goal was his 18th on the season & his 9th in his last seven games.
Anaheim grabbed a one goal lead again after a shot by forward Pontus Aberg that went off the glass above the Lightning net & caromed in front of the goal, was batted past Domingue while still in the air by Ritchie. And the visitors made it a two goal lead just 48 seconds later when forward Carter Rowney blasted a low wrist shot past Domingue.
Tampa Bay will look to rebound from this loss when they play their last of a five game homestand & host Buffalo on Thursday. Coverage on 970 WFLA begins with the pregame at 6:30pm & face-off is scheduled for 7:30pm.
SCORING SUMMARY:
1ST PERIOD:
NONE
2ND PERIOD:
1. ANA- Manson 2nd goal (Henrique, Ritchie)- 12:04
2. TBL- Point 18th goal (Kucherov, McDonagh)- 18:34
3RD PERIOD:
1. ANA- PPG- Ritchie 2nd goal (Aberg, Kase)- 4:51
2. ANA- Rownney 2nd goal (Gibbons, Pettersson)- 5:39
PENALTY SUMMARY:
1ST PERIOD:
1. ANA- Manson (Interference 2 min )- 1:23
2. TBL- Kucherov (Slashing 2 min )- 19:50
2ND PERIOD:
NONE
3RD PERIOD:
1. TBL- Kucherov (Hooking 2 min)- 4:13
2. ANA- Montour (Hooking 2 min)- 7:47
3. ANA- Gibbons (High-Sticking 2 min)- 9:14
4. TBL- Point (Interference 2 min)- 12:12
5. ANA- Getzlaf (High-Sticking 2 min)- 17:13