Lightning 4, Canucks 2
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The West if best, East is least, if you go by the record Eastern Conference NHL teams have against their Western Conference cousins.
But don't tell that to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Lightning, even without injured scoring star Steven Stamkos, beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 Wednesday night at Rogers Arena.
Overall, the Western Conference is 134-65-28 against the East. Only three Western teams have losing records against the East.
Tampa Bay, however, is 9-3-2 against Western teams.
After a scoreless first period, the teams combined for five goals in the second.
Four goals were scored in the final 4:33 of the period, three of them by Tampa Bay. The last one came with 2.6 seconds remaining and the Lightning on a power play.
Vancouver left winger Chris Higgins' attempt to clear the puck off the boards instead of firing it straight down the ice was intercepted by Tampa Bay defenseman Radko Gudas inside the Canucks' zone.
Two passes later, it was on right winger Nikita Kucherov's stick, and he blasted a slap shot past Canucks goalie Eddie Lack from the faceoff dot.
It capped a hectic final few minutes.
After Vancouver center Brad Richardson's wrist shot on a partial breakaway beat Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop to the short side at 11:25 to open scoring, Tampa Bay center Valtteri Filppula, on pace for a 30-goal season with 15 to date at the 40-game mark, beat Lack from the faceoff circle 22 seconds after the Canucks scored.
Twenty seconds later, with Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa caught on a pinch in the Lightning zone, center Tyler Johnson converted left winger Ondrej Palat's pass on a 2-on-1 to make it 2-1 for Tampa Bay.
However, to the ire of Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who thought icing should have been whistled, the Canucks' fourth line tied things again just 14 seconds after Johnson's goal. Center Zac Dalpe collected his first goal of the season on Bishop's doorstep.
It looked as if the teams would retreat to their dressing rooms with a 2-2 score until Higgins erred on his clearing attempt, leading to Kucherov's goal. At the time, Canucks defenseman Yannick Weber was in the penalty box for hooking Johnson on a partial breakaway.
Tampa Bay increased the lead to 4-2 at 7:28 of the third period. Lightning center Alex Killorn, at the center hashmarks, redirected a shot from defenseman Victor Hedman for his 10th goal of the season.
NOTES: Canucks C Ryan Kesler, who is from Livonia, Mich., was selected to the U.S. Olympic team. ... Vancouver rookie G Eddie Lack, in his second straight start since Roberto Luongo got injured Dec. 22, entered the night 7-2-1 with a 1.84 goals-against average, fourth best in the NHL, a .929 save percentage. He was 5-0-1 in his previous six games with two shutouts. ... The Canucks reassigned C Jeremy Welsh to AHL Utica. ... Vancouver's power play is among the worst in the league, but was on top in penalty-killing at 89.7 percent through Tuesday. ... Before Wednesday, Tampa Bay had one win in Vancouver during its 21-year-history. That victory came in the Lightning's previous visit to Rogers Arena, on Dec. 11, 2010. ... D Sami Salo made his first trip back to Vancouver since he signed with the Lightning two summers ago. Salo played nine season in Vancouver. ... Lightning assistant coach Rick Bowness, an assistant in Vancouver for seven seasons before being fired at the end of last season, also made his return.
