Second-period span sends Ducks to sixth straight loss
TAMPA, Fla. — Nick Paul scored the first of four Tampa Bay goals in a span of 5:55 in the second period, and Brayden Point scored his 200th NHL goal as the Lightning dealt the Ducks their sixth straight loss, 6-1 on Tuesday night.
Ross Colton, Anthony Cirelli and Zach Bogosian also scored in the second-period outburst for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 24 saves. Tampa Bay, the only team in the NHL averaging more than four goals per game at home, is 14-0-1 in its last 15 games at Amalie Arena.
“We dug in a little bit, played with a little more snarl in front of the net,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of the improved play in the second period. “It was more blue-collar hockey.”
The Ducks’ Ryan Strome spoiled Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid, scoring 6:28 into the third period. Lukas Dostal made 38 saves for the Ducks, who are 0-5-1 in their last six games and have been outscored 36-15.
“We played as a team, and unfortunately the way our team is this year, we have to almost play a perfect game to beat a team like this,” Strome said. “When they turned it up a notch, we had a tendency to split up rather than come together. Obviously, they’re a great team and there are a lot of lessons we can learn from that.”
Point and Corey Perry scored in the third period, and rookie defenseman Nick Perbix had three assists for Tampa Bay, which took the first 21 shots on goal in the second period before Vasilevskiy robbed Trevor Zegras with 1:09 remaining.
“We’re a rebuilding team,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “We played last night and we were starting to run out of gas after a really strong first period and we’ve got to play a perfect game to be in with teams like this right now.”