The Lightning had the early lead through the first period and a half of Sunday’s match against the Vancouver Canucks, but a very rough third period saw the Lightning give up five goals to go down 6-2. As a result of Vancouver dominating that third period, they went on to defeat Tampa Bay with that 6-2 deficit.
Nikita Kucherov got the Lightning’s offense started on Sunday with his eighth goal of the year. A slap shot assisted by Darren Raddysh and Brayden Point put Tampa on top of Vancouver 1-0.
Jake Guentzel kept the Lightning’s offense striking in the second period with his eighth goal of the year on a tip-in shot assisted by Erik Carnak and Brandon Hagel who was back on the ice.
But then the Canucks started cooking offensively as they began to quiet the Lightning. Jake DeBrusk made it a 2-1 match. He was assisted by Elias Petterson and Quinn Hughes.
The Lightning still held the lead into the third period, but after a Tampa penalty, the Canucks tied it up on a power play goal by Kiefer Sherwood 4:11 into the period. The shot that made it a 2-2 game was assisted by Brock Boeser and Hughes.
They then scored 40 seconds later and at the 5:51 mark as well to take and extend their lead over the Lightning. Their third goal and the one that put them on top 3-2 was by Linus Karlsson and assisted by Mackenzie MacEachern. Their fourth goal that followed was scored by Drew O’Connor and assisted by Hughes and Filip Hronek.
MacEachern then extended the Canuck’s lead to 5-2 over Tampa Bay on a goal assisted by Hronek and Hughes.
The sixth goal that put the nail in the coffin for Tampa Bay and led the Canucks to their ultimate victory was scored by Marcus Petterson. It was a wrist shot assisted by E. Pettersson and Tyler Myers.
The Lightning skate away from the weekend having split the weekend with one win and one loss.
They will return to action on Tuesday with a 7:00PM EST puck drop against the New Jersey Devils at Benchmark International Arena.