@jayRecher
Nikita Kucherov scored a pair of goals & Andrei Vasilevskiy made 39 saves as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the visiting Calgary Flames 4-1 on Thursday night at Amalie Arena.
Steven Stamkos and Phillippe Myers also scored for Tampa Bay.
The Lightning held a two-goal lead late in the game & Kucherov sealed the deal with an empty-netter with 13.5 seconds left.
Calgary thought they opened the scoring at 7:28 of the 1st when Milan Lucic beat Vasilevskiy to the short side, but after a very quick review, it was deemed that Flames center Nazem Kadri was offside and the goal was taken off the board.
35 seconds later, Stamkos took a pass from Mikhail Sergachev & fired one past the glove of Calgary netminder Jacob Markstrom to put Tampa Bay up 1-0.
The Lightning doubled their lead with an absolutely incredible power play goal at 18:16 of the second period.
Sergachev did a masterful job of keeping the puck in at the blue line on his backhand and quickly passed the puck between the legs of former Lightning forward Blake Coleman right on the stick of Stamkos. The captain then fired a pass to Kucherov, who one-timed a shot past Markstrom to give the Bolts a 2-0 lead.
Elias Lindholm got the Flames on the board with a power play goal at 4:53 of the 3rd, but Myers scored his first goal as a member of the Lightning just 10 seconds later to give Tampa Bay a two-goal lead once again.
Markstrom stopped 20 of the 23 shots he saw on the evening.
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Oh No Nick! : Lightning defenseman Nick Perbix did not take a shift after the 12:28 mark of the second period. Head Coach Jon Cooper did not have an update after the game and said that there were multiple players that were banged up after tonight's game. (TWEET BELOW)
A Special Night : Tonight was Hockey Fights Cancer night at Amalie Arena with the players wearing special lavender jerseys in the pregame that will be auctioned off to raise money for cancer awareness. Firing off the Tesla coils tonight was 2 1/2 year old Davey June Howell, who was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer in November 2021, but is now cancer-free! Check out the tweet below for more on this incredible story!
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SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- Tampa Bay - Stamkos - (Sergachev, Paul) - 8:03
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - PPG - Kucherov - (Stamkos, Sergachev) - 18:16
3rd Period
- Calgary - PPG - Lindholm - (Huberdeau, Toffoli) - 4:53
- Tampa Bay - Myers - (Colton) - 5:03
- Tampa Bay - ENG - Kucherov (2) - (Hagel, Cole) - 19:46
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PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
- Tampa Bay - Sergachev - (Tripping) - 14:00
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Hagel - (Hooking) - 12:46
- Calgary - Andersson - (Holding) - 17:11
3rd Period
- Tampa Bay - Kucherov - (Goalie Interference) - 3:54
- Calgary - Zadorov - (Holding) - 12:50
- Calgary - Huberdeau - (Roughing) - 15:56
- Tampa Bay - Fleury - (Roughing) - 15:56
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What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action on Saturday night as they travel to Nashville to take on the Predators. Puck drop is slated for 8:00pm.
Photo: Getty Images North America
PHOTO : Getty Images