The Tampa Bay Lightning (40-17-5) fell to the Arizona Coyotes (31-26-8) 7-3 on Saturday night in Phoenix.
The Lightning scored first in this one, when Anthony Cirelli scored at the 3:53 mark of the first period, but Arizona would answer. They began to turn the momentum of this game late in the first period when Conor Garland and Clayton Keller scored 1:10 apart late in the first period to take a 2-1 lead. Carl Soderberg scored a power play goal at the 5:51 mark of the second period and it appeared Arizona may start to run away with it.
The Lightning did answer as Ondrej Palat and Brayden Point scored midway through the second period to tie the game 3-3. However, from there Arizona was able to answer in a huge way. It began when Brad Richardson scored just 53 seconds later to give the Coyotes the lead back 4-3.
In the third period Conor Garland and Clayton Keller each added their second goal of the game to lift Tampa Bay to a 6-3 lead. Derek Stepan scored at the 18:46 mark to set the final score at 7-3.
Andrei Vasilevskiy went 34-for-41 in net in the losing effort, while Antti Raanta secured the win for Arizona making 27 stops on 30 shots in net for the Coyotes.
The Lightning now return home for a five game homestand that begins on Tuesday against the Maple Leafs. Puck drop from Amalie Arena is set for 7 PM on Tuesday night - pregame coverage begins at 6 PM on News Radio WFLA.