Evidently, the light over the Tampa Bay Lightning net works, after all.
The Lightning scored five goals – finally – to wallop the Anaheim Ducks, 5-0, on Saturday night at the Amalie Arena.
It was a rare outburst of scoring by a Lightning team that has lost the scoring touch it demonstrated a year ago. In fact, in the Lightning’s last four losses, it had only five goals total.
This was different, however. After a scoreless first period, the Lightning scored three in the second period – one by Nikita Kucherov and two by Steven Stamkos. They added two more in the third period, one by Brian Boyle and one by Jonathan Marchessault.
It was plenty of goals for a team that has struggled to score all season. Tampa Bay had two power play goals (Stamkos’ second goal and Marchessault’s goal) against a Ducks’ team that had given up only three power play goals all season. It was the 51st multi-goal performance of Stamkos’ career.
“It’s always reassuring,” Stamkos said. “Especially when you play those type of caliber teams and you see those results. The guys that have been called up have really stepped up and played outstanding. Bish has played great, and tonight was a result of finally getting the bounces go our way. Hopefully they come in bunches now.”
Anaheim, however, didn’t score any. Playing on his 29th birthday, goaltender Ben Bishop stopped all 30 shots he faced.
“It was a lot of fun,” Bishop said. “Obviously to get some goals, it was probably the most electric I’ve seen the building all season. The fans were definitely behind us. It’s just fun. Saturday night, everyone’s happy.
“We’ve had some injuries, and we’ve seen the team come together. We’ve been trying to win a team game when we’re missing as many guys as we are, and I think we’ve done that the last two games. I thought we played some of our better games these last two even when we are missing some key pieces, so it’s nice to see that.”
The Lightning is home against the Kings on Tuesday.
