After recording a 5-3 road win over the Florida Panthers March 16 at Amerant Bank Arena, the Tampa Bay Lightning flew across the country for four consecutive games against Western Conference opponents. With all four contests in the books, the Bolts are returning to Tampa with seven of a possible eight points following a 3-2 overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks Sunday night at Honda Center.
Playing in the second half of a back-to-back set, the Lightning were without both Victor Hedman and Brayden Point Sunday night, with both players missing the game due to lower-body injuries that have them listed as day-to-day.
With Jonas Johansson in net for the first time since February 25, the backup goaltender was exceptional, making 30 saves on 32 shots against in the win. That stellar play between the pipes, combined with goals from Anthony Duclair, Luke Glendening and Anthony Cirelli, helped the Bolts earn two big points as the race for the postseason continues.
Tampa Bay would be forced to come from behind after the Ducks accounted for the only goal of the first period when Ross Johnston found the back of the net at the 13:49 mark of the opening frame.
Crossing over the Tampa Bay blue line, Johnston dished the puck to Jakob Silfverberg and drove the net before redirecting a return feed past Johansson to give Anaheim the 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
From there, the Bolts got back-to-back goals in the second period to go into the third period with a 2-1 lead.
Duclair got the Lightning on the board at the 7:50 mark of the second as the trade deadline acquisition stayed scorching hot and extended his point streak to seven games.
Following a shot by Nick Perbix that was stopped by Lukas Dostal, Duclair jumped on the loose rebound and ripped a shot into the back of the net to even the score at 1-1. Duclair has now found the scoresheet in each of his seven games with Tampa Bay.
A little less than 10 minutes later, Glendening gave the Bolts their first lead of the night after getting in on the forecheck and forcing an Anaheim turnover. Sending a pass to Tanner Jeannot, Glendening drove the net and made his way to the top of the crease before banging home a rebound off a redirect from Austin Watson for his 10th goal of the year.
Pavel Mintyukov got the game tied at 2-2 at the 2:36 mark of the third period when the Ducks capitalized on an odd-man rush that ended with the rookie defenseman beating Johansson through the five hole for his fourth goal of the season.
After neither team was able to find the back of the net for the remainder of regulation, Tampa Bay fans saw the chemistry between Cirelli and Brandon Hagel pay off once again with the two working together to cap off the road trip with a big win.
Following an errant backhand pass from Mason McTavish, Cirelli gained possession near the Lightning blue line and darted down the ice with Hagel right on his tail. Seeing Hagel out of the corner of his eye, Cirelli sent a drop pass to his teammate before taking a return feed and beating Dostal with a one-timer for the game-winning goal.
With the win, the Bolts improved to 39-25-7 on the year with a road record of 18-16-3. Tampa Bay now has 85 points through 71 games as they continue to hold the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. With 11 games remaining on the schedule, the Lightning have a six-point lead on the Washington Capitals, who hold the second Wild Card spot with one game in hand.
The Bolts will return to Tampa and be back in action Wednesday night against the Boston Bruins. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
Bolts by the Numbers
Anthony Duclair scored his 21st goal of the season to extend his point streak with Tampa Bay to seven games (5-5—9). Duclair’s seven-game point streak to start his career with the Lightning is tied with Chris Tierney (OTT) for the second-longest point streak to begin a tenure with a franchise among all active NHL skaters. Alex Ovechkin (WSH) recorded the longest streak among active players with points in eight straight to begin his career in 2005-06. Duclair has 19 points over his last 15 games (12-7—19) and has found the scoresheet in a career-best nine consecutive contests (8-6—14).
Luke Glendening scored with three minutes remaining in the second period to push his season point total 11 with 10 goals and one assist. Glendening’s 10 goals are the most he’s scored in a single season since he lit the lamp 10 times in 2018-19 with the Detroit Red Wings. Glendening has now recorded four career 10-goal seasons and is two away from tying his career-high 12-goal campaign in 2014-15 with Detroit.
Anthony Cirelli scored the game-winning goal 59 seconds into overtime, the fastest overtime goal by the Lightning since Alex Killorn lit the lamp 33 seconds into the extra frame December 3, 2022 vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs. Cirelli has now scored four career overtime goals. Cirelli’s goal marked his first game-winner of the season and 17th of his career.
With the Bolts playing the second half of a back-to-back set, Jonas Johansson made his first start since February 25th at the New Jersey Devils. Johansson stopped 30 of 32 shots to earn his second-straight win and improve to 12-7-5 on the season.
Brandon Hagel picked up the lone helper on Cirelli’s overtime game-winning goal and is up to 64 points on the season (23-41—64).
Nick Perbix collected the lone assist on Duclair’s goal and is up to 22 points on the year (2-20—22). Perbix has pointed in each of his four career games against the Ducks (0-6—6).
Austin Watson picked up the primary helper on Glendening’s 10th goal of the season and became the 155th skater in NHL history to log 1,200 career hits. Watson is up to four points on the campaign (2-2—4).
Tanner Jeannot recorded the secondary helper on Glendening’s goal and is up to 13 points on the season (6-7—13).
Bolts Quotes
Jon Cooper: “Since the trade deadline, we've really turned the corner. Duclair and Dumba have come in and they've given our team a little life. Great guys in the room. But we're just playing better. I've got to tip our cap. Our penalty kill has been on quite a run here for us of late, which keeps us in games when we need to be, especially tonight. You've got to kill a 5-on-3 for over a minute and then get through the power play and both ends of that. We did and I thought that was a big turning point in the game for us to get through that. Special teams have been great. The goaltending has been excellent. It’s added up to some points for us in the last few weeks here.”
Anthony Cirelli on his chemistry with Brandon Hagel: “He’s just an easy guy to play with. He does so many things well. He’s good on the D-side of the puck. He makes plays and can finish. He works so hard. He’s a guy that does it all for our team, so it’s very easy to read off him and to play with him.”
Cooper on Jonas Johansson: “It's a weird year for him because he goes from seeing the net every single night and now the last few months, he hasn’t seen a ton of action. But when he gets in there, he gives us these standout performances like he did tonight. You look at some of the chances Anaheim had in the third period – positional saves. There was one I thought might’ve gone under him and he was there to trap it. That’s what happens. You need your goalie to keep you in it and fortunately we got the break in overtime.”
Jonas Johansson: “It’s a team game out there. Everyone really stepped in to work tonight. It’s not easy doing it in back-to-back, tight games. Not too many hours in between games. But we really showed up tonight and we had a really good road trip, so we’ve got to keep this going here.”
Cooper on the chemistry between Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel: “Where, on the ice or off the ice? That pretty much answers it.”
Krenner’s Three Stars
- Jonas Johansson
- Anthony Cirelli
- Anthony Duclair
Lightning Look Ahead
- Wednesday, March 27 vs. Boston Bruins, 7:30 p.m. ET, AMALIE Arena - Buy Tickets
- Saturday, March 30 vs. New York Islanders, 7:00 p.m. ET, AMALIE Arena - Buy Tickets
- Monday, April 1 vs. Detroit Red Wings, 7:00 p.m. ET, AMALIE Arena - Buy Tickets
