In Tampa, after a scoreless first period, the Lightning posted four goals in the middle frame and two more in the third for a 6-0 lead over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.
“It took a bit for us to find our legs,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “I thought we dug in a little bit, a little bit more net front [presence]. … I think they opened up some stuff for us and the puck started going in for us.”
Anaheim picked up a lipstick goal late in the third for a 6-1 final.
Six different skaters scored for the Lightning.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves in the Tampa win.
The Lightning improved to 36-17-3.
In the second period, Tampa broke the game open with a flurry of goals.
Nicholas Paul got the offense rolling with a 1-0 lead to the Lightning.
“I saw (Lightning radio analyst Phil Esposito) at dinner the other day, and he told me to shoot the puck more,” Paul said. “It ended up working.”
Ross Colton hit off the power play for a 2-0 advantage at 9:48.
“We kind of heard it in the locker room after the first period, saying there were too many turnovers,” Colton said. “I think we were feeling their rush and giving them too many chances.
“They have a lot of skilled guys over there and we were giving them chances they didn’t deserve. At the start of the second, I thought we dialed it in and played the right way.”
Anthony Cirelli scored 63 seconds later for a 3-0 lead to Tampa.
Zach Bogosian closed out the scoring in the middle frame for a 4-0 lead headed to the third period.
Anaheim dropped to 17-34-7.
“We’re a rebuilding team,” Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. “We played last night, and we were starting to run out of gas after a really strong first period and we’ve got to play a perfect game to be in with teams like this right now. We weren’t able to sustain the game.”
The Third period was no better for the Ducks as Brayden Point hit for a 5-0 lead 1:08, and Corey Perry r ballooned the advantage to 6-0 at 2:23.
Ryan Strome prevented a shutout in the seventh minute of the third to get Ducks on the board for the 6-1 final.
“Unfortunately the way our team is this year, we have to almost play a perfect game to beat a team like this,” Strome said. “When they turned it up a notch, we had a tendency to split up rather than come together. Obviously, they’re a great team and there are a lot of lessons we can learn from that.”
Lukas Dostal made 38 saves in the Anaheim loss.
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