The Tampa Bay Lightning are packing a potent offense as they hit the road for the second of four visits to the West, starting with Saturday afternoon’s matchup against the Vancouver Canucks to finish the season series between the teams.
In the first meeting on Oct. 15 at Tampa, Fla., Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli each produced a goal and an assist as the Lightning handled the Canucks 4-1 in their home opener.
That win nearly two months ago resembled the Lightning’s win Thursday — an 8-1 home rout of the San Jose Sharks — though the October victory did not have the tidal wave of goals like the most recent one did.
Everything went right for the Lightning against the improved Sharks and budding rookie star Macklin Celebrini as they led 5-0 after the first period, made it easy for goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and matched their season-high in goals scored.
They also hit the net eight times at the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 22 and at home against the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 25.
Entering Saturday’s action, the Lightning’s 3.92 goals per game trailed only the Washington Capitals (4.04).
Following its matchup against Vancouver coach Rich Tocchet’s club, Tampa Bay will trek to Alberta to face the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. The trip concludes with a tilt against the Seattle Kraken.
“It’s always good to go on the road on a positive note,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “But I also think you’ve got to turn the page on (the last game) and understand what we have ahead of us and some of the teams we’re going to face. This will be a good test for us.”
Lightning first-line right winger Nikita Kucherov (undisclosed) has missed the past two games.
After losing that early-season matchup in Tampa, the Canucks were left holding an 0-2-1 record — dismal considering the campaign’s high expectations.
However, Tocchet’s group has gone 14-6-2 since that setback and resides in the top half of the Pacific Division despite playing a division-low-tying 25 games.
The Canucks are 5-1-1 since Nov. 23 and are coming off a solid 8-5-0 November.
In its 5-2 home win Friday over the Columbus Blue Jackets, Vancouver opened its second six-game homestand by displaying its propensity to rally after falling behind 2-0 to the Eastern Conference visitors.
That marked the 15th time in 25 games Vancouver had yielded the first goal, but its record in those contests stands at 9-5-1.
“Something just clicks, and we start winning our puck battles and playing our style of hockey, but it’s obviously frustrating,” Canucks forward Brock Boeser said. “We’ve talked about this many times, and we’re all pretty aware that our starts aren’t good, and that was unacceptable again. I don’t know if it’s a lack of preparation or what.”
Boeser started the comeback Friday with his seventh tally and later had an assist for his 400th NHL point, all done in 497 games with the Canucks.
“It means a lot just to do it with the guys in this room and the fan base,” Boeser said. “I always say how much I love playing here so it’s obviously special.”
Goalie Thatcher Demko served as the backup while dressing for the first time since April 21 when he injured his knee in a Western Conference first-round playoff series.
–Field Level Media
