Lightning’s Steven Stamkos returns for game against Vancouver Canucks
TAMPA — Steven Stamkos returned to the Lightning lineup for Thursday’s 4-3 win over Vancouver at Amalie Arena after missing the previous two games with a lower-body injury.
The Tampa Bay captain assisted on Nick Paul’s first-period power-play goal. Stamkos had seven shots and one hit while playing 18:55. He was minus-2.
Stamkos, who was scratched for road losses in Ottawa and Buffalo, was a full participant at Thursday morning’s skate. He skated on the first-team power-play unit and on the second line, alongside Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel.
“I felt good the last couple of days and I felt good (Thursday) on the ice, so that’s the expectation,” Stamkos said after morning skate when asked about playing against the Canucks.
The Lightning were 0-for-6 on the power play in the two games without Stamkos, including an 0-for-4 showing in Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime loss to Buffalo. Tampa Bay used two defensemen — Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev — on the top unit to try to compensate for Stamkos’ absence.
“Especially on the power play, he’s a threat,” head coach Jon Cooper said. “It’s another thing a defense has to worry about when he’s out there. And so the other night, it was just different without him out there, and we didn’t really have practice time because it was unforeseen he wasn’t going to play. When you have that kind of triple threat we have across the line on the power play, it makes a big difference when he’s in there.”
After opening the season with three of their first four games on the road, the Lightning (1-2-1, 3 points) play their next five at Amalie Arena, through the end of October. They owned one of the best home records in the league last season.
“It’s imperative that we start getting some points here,” Cooper said. “I’m disappointed we only came away with one on that trip, and we’ve been pretty good at home in the past. We just can’t say, ‘Oh, just because we’re at home that we’re going to get points.’ We’ve got some good teams coming in here, but it’ll be good to not bounce around different cities.”
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