AVALANCHE ROAD TRIP ENDS WITH 7-1 LOSS
Nhl-leading Tampa Bay Lightning win sixth straight, beating Colorado 7-1.
TAMPA, FLA.» The Nhl-leading Tampa Bay Lightning beat one of the Western Conference’s top teams in convincing fashion.
Steven Stamkos had two goals and two assists as the Lightning won its sixth consecutive game, romping over the Avalanche 7-1 on Saturday night.
“It was fun to be a part of,” Stamkos said. “I just thought that we deserved everything that we got today, including some bounces and some breaks. But when you’re on top of the puck like we were tonight, it’s going to be tough for the other team.”
Stamkos scored twice in the first period and had two secondperiod assists. It was his franchise-best 13th four-point game.
Tampa Bay also got two goals from Ondrej Palat, and Louis Domingue made 29 saves. Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli had the other Lightning goals.
Nathan Mackinnon had a goal for the Avalanche, which is 10-2-2 over its last 14 games. Semyon Varlamov was pulled midway through the second period after allowing five goals on 23 shots.
Philipp Grubauer replaced Varlamov and gave up two goals on 15 shots.
“I don’t think there’s any positive you could take out of this game,” Grubauer said. “We made it easy for them, the best team in the league.”
Tampa Bay held the high-scoring line of Mackinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabe Landeskog to three points. The trio entered with 48 goals and 124 points.
“We weren’t giving them time and space at all,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “When you don’t give them any space, especially the big line, it can be frustrating.”
Rantanen got his Nhl-leading 48th point with an assist that extended his points streak to 11 games (14 assists, 19 points).
Stamkos opened the scoring from the left circle off a pass through the slot by Nikita Kucherov during a power play 3:05 into the game. Kucherov has 21 assists and 26 points over his last 13 games.
“I thought it started with the PP,” Johnson said. “Getting that quick goal, I think we just kept rolling with that.”
After Stamkos scored on a breakaway backhander at 13:15 of the first, Mackinnon made it 2-1 just 59 seconds later.
Mackinnon has 20 goals in 30 games, which ties Joe Sakic’s Colorado team record, set in 1995-96, for the fewest games needed to reach the mark.
Johnson put Tampa Bay up 3-1 late in the first.
Stamkos made a pass from the left circle while falling down to Yanni Gourde, who then set up Killorn’s goal two minutes into the second that put Tampa Bay ahead 4-1.
Palat and Cirelli added secondperiod goals.
“We need to be a lot better than we were tonight,” Colorado center Tyson Jost said. “Everybody knows that.”
Palat had a power-play goal in the third.