Sports Circuit

The Tampa Bay Lightning wrapped up their 5 game road trip Sunday night in Anaheim. The Lightning came in, playing their second game of a back-to-back, after falling in overtime to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night. That was the first defeat of the road trip for the Lightning, who’ve strung together several wins against teams in the top portion of the standings, including the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights.

Head Coach Jon Cooper and his team knew the importance of this road trip and how it shapes their chances of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Bolts are hungry for a playoff spot and it has shown in their road performances.

The Anaheim Ducks have struggled mightily this season, with their record only good enough for 30th place in the league, ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks. The Ducks will look to build for the future in the upcoming draft.

TBL G Jonas Johansson and ANA G Lukáš Dostál guarded the creases for the teams at the Honda Center. Lightning F Brayden Point and D Victor Hedman missed the game with minor injuries from the previous game.

Anaheim found the back of the net first with a few minutes left in the first period as Ross Johnston cut in front of Matt Dumba and created a nasty deflection as the puck fluttered into the top corner of the net.

With just over 12 minutes left in the second period, Anthony Duclair found the puck at the back door off a deflection and fired it past Dostál to tie the game at 1. Duclair, since being acquired by the Lightning, has fit like a glove and contributed 5 goals and 4 assists in 9 games with the team. Lightning F Luke Glendening wreaked havoc in the Duck’s zone, forcing a turn over and then jumping on a loose puck to give the Lightning the lead heading into the third period.

Coming off a long road trip and heading into the third period, the Lightning would have to fight through some heavy legs to hold on to the lead. The 2-1 lead didn’t last long as Anaheim D Pavel Mintyukov froze Jonas Johansson and beat him cleanly through the wickets to tie the game with just over 17 minutes to play. Both teams would fail to take the lead and the game would head to overtime.

Last night, the Lightning struggled to take hold of the game and saw their efforts fall short in overtime against the Kings. Would they be able to reverse their fortunes this time around?

The overtime didn’t last long as a bad back pass by the Ducks gave Lightning F Anthony Cirelli the puck with plenty of real estate to skate in on Dostál. Cirelli waited for his good pal, Lightning F Brandon Hagel, to catch up to create a 2 on 0. A quick passing sequence between the two had Dostál hopelessly trying to cover between his posts, but a quick shot by Cirelli beat the goaltender and the Lightning took the victory.

The Lightning sit 4 points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and look toward Wednesday night when they welcome the Boston Bruins to Amalie Arena.