In Tampa, Nikita Kucherov hit for a double for the Lighting, including an empty-net strike with 14 seconds left in the game to seal a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
“[The Flames] are a working team, so you just have to be on top of that and you have to match their work ethic,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. ” … You just have to grind, and I thought our guys did tonight.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 39 saves in the Lightning win.
Tampa took a 1-0 lead in the first period off a goal from Steven Stamkos .
“The power play has been an area that we wanted to improve on, and I think we have,” Stamkos said. “We’re too skilled of a unit to not at least get chances. Obviously, ‘Kuch’ is a big part of that.”
The Lightning improved to 10-6-1.
Elias Lindholm was the lone striker for the Flames.
Calgary dropped to 7-7-2, they are 2-7-1 in their last 10 matches.
“We were a little sluggish in the first period, ‘Marky’ made two or three really good saves,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “I think we probably had enough opportunities to at least tie going into the third.”
Lindholm scored in the third period to make the score, 2-1, for the Lighting.
“It’s tough, especially when we score the first goal and it gets taken back, and next shift they get a goal and then they’re up 1-0,” Calgary’s Milan Lucic said. “We had 40 shots, and we were on it. Just got to get some finish like we did in the two wins before this trip.”
Kucherov scored in the middle frame to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead.
Philippe Myers scored five minutes into the third period to extend the Bolts advantage to 3-1.
Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves in the Flames loss.
“We get it back to a one-goal lead, and then they score right after that,” Markstrom said. “That can’t happen. If you look at the numbers, I’ve got to be better. I’ve got to step up there.”
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