In Glendale, Steve Stamkos hit for a double and the Tampa Bay Lightning got past the Coyotes, 4-3, on Friday night.
“It’s just kind of been in our DNA for a while now, even going back to the last couple of playoff rounds, we’ve always bounced back after a loss,” Stamkos said. “We didn’t have the best start against Colorado, but it doesn’t linger because we had a really good start tonight. We came in here and got the win after a game that we weren’t really happy with.”
Brian Elliott made 16 saves in a rare start for the Lightning.
“Coming off a tough game, the guys really pulled through,” Elliott said. “You could tell that the gas was kind of running on empty by the end, but we pushed forward and ‘Stammy’ came up with a couple of big goals to put us over the edge.”
Clayton Keller, Alex Galchenyuk
“We had a little bit of a slow start, but I thought we got better as the game went on,” Keller said. “It was a bit of a weird game, but all in all, I think we battled hard. A few mistakes. They’ve got some great players…I was happy with how we battled back.”
The Coyotes dropped to 12-32-4.
Brayden Point and Corey Perry added single markers for the Lightning, their two goals gave the Bolts a 2-0 lead in the game.
“It was probably a tough game for [Elliott] because he wasn’t seeing a ton of shots early and then they started to get some chances,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “He’s obviously not going to get the starts that [Vasilevskiy] is, but his job is to try and get points when you’re in there and he’s been doing that.”
Nick Schmaltz scored with less than two minutes remaining in the game for the 4-3 final.
“We slowly worked ourself into it and I think overall we played a pretty solid game,” the Coyotes’ Anton Stralman said. “We put up a good fight and gave them a good shot but they have a lot of power and they eventually came through.”
Karel Vejmelka made 28 saves in the Arizona loss.
“They’re big, they’re fast, they play well and there is no space, no space,” Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny said. “I think we got better during the game. The second (period), the third, we had good momentum and we pushed.”
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