Vancouver Canucks vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Pick & Prediction JANUARY 12th 2023
Following his team's recent road swing where it lost its last two games at Minnesota and Winnipeg, Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper had stern words for his team and a hard practice leading up its game Tuesday night.
The Lightning responded with three power-play goals in a 6-3 win over the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets and will look to carry that momentum to Thursday's first meeting this season with the Vancouver Canucks.
According to Cooper, his club needed to get back to basics and take care of the business it is supposed to -- winning at home against competition it's expected to beat.
Jacob Hoffman
"What's going with us right now is internal," Cooper said before Tuesday's win, the Lightning's eighth straight at home. "We've got to get our game in order. It was great coming out of the (holiday) break and we slipped a little here. We're playing a team that we have to beat. ... We've got to look at ourselves in the mirror and concentrate on our game."
In improving to 16-4-1 at home, his team certainly appeared to heed his message.
Nikita Kucherov scored and set up another as Tampa Bay led 2-0 just 9:05 into the game. When Columbus cut it to 3-2 in the third period, Kucherov and Brayden Point tallied goals six minutes apart to take control and snap the club's two-game skid.
The Lightning outshot the last-place Metropolitan Division team 46-24, marking the third time they have reached the 40-shot plateau. They jumped on Columbus right away with 21 shots in the first.
"You can't expect them to play perfect hockey for 82 games," Cooper said, "but what happened, kind of as that trip went on, the guys know it was unacceptable."
Steven Stamkos had two assists but is stuck on 498 career goals. The captain has scored just once in his past 11 outings.
With 33 points at home, the Lightning have totaled the second-most points at home in the NHL, trailing only the Boston Bruins' 41.
In Pittsburgh for the second of its five-game road trip, Vancouver bolted out to a three-goal lead over the Penguins in the opening 7:05. Conor Garland, Brock Boeser, and Quinn Hughes all tallied, but coach Bruce Boudreau's group surrendered three goals to Pittsburgh's top forwards to tie the game after 20 minutes.
During a rally that took less than eight minutes to complete, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jason Zucker hit the net against Canucks goaltender Spencer Martin. Malkin tallied later and Richard Rakell provided the game-winner on the power play as the Eastern Conference team held on for a 5-4 win.
Boudreau said Vancouver's start may have led to his squad sitting back some.
"We got the lead, and anytime you jump out to an early lead like that, you kind of relax a little bit," Boudreau said after his team allowed 20 shots in the first period. "Once they caught fire, they were pretty dangerous the rest of the period."
The Canucks, who have lost four straight against Tampa Bay, went 0-for-5 on the power play and are ranked 11th overall. They have yielded a league-high nine short-handed markers.
"They scored on the power play, (and) we didn't get a power-play goal. Those are the couple little things that make a difference in a game," Boeser said.
--Field Level Media
Vancouver Canucks vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Six different players scored in Tampa Bay's six-goal second period, Carter Verhaeghe tallied his first career hat trick and the Lightning routed the visiting Vancouver Canucks 9-2 on Tuesday night.
Tampa Bay extended its winning streak to a season-high eight games, the club's longest since a 10-game stretch last February.
The Lightning's six-goal period matched the franchise record set in 1995 against Winnipeg. They are the third team to turn the feat this season, joining Colorado and Pittsburgh.
Brayden Point scored and assisted on three goals, and Steven Stamkos posted his 17th tally and had two helpers. Alex Killorn also produced his 17th.
Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Erik Cernak netted for the Lightning, who had 13 players on the scoresheet.
Mikhail Sergachev played in his 200th game, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 21 shots to win his 20th.
Elias Pettersson and Loui Eriksson scored for Vancouver. Jacob Markstrom allowed seven goals on 26 shots before being relieved by Thatcher Demko, who made nine saves.
Their first meeting this season was just the second instance in NHL history featuring two teams carrying an active winning streak of at least seven consecutive games.
Pettersson, who will play in his second All-Star Game later this month, skated in and slipped in his 20th marker through Vasilevskiy's pads with just 62 seconds left in the first period.
Johnson zipped a shot on Markstrom early in the second period, and the puck deflected up and went over the goal line for Johnson's 10th at 4:21 to tie it at 1.
Stamkos gave the Lightning their first lead on the power play when Point won a faceoff, and the captain wired a shot from just inside the edge of the right circle at 10:10.
Eriksson's chip of a centering pass hit Hedman and bounced in at 14:05 to even it at 2, but Tampa Bay regained the lead when Killorn raced in and beat Markstrom on a breakaway just over a minute later.
The Lightning took complete control at 6-2 when Verhaeghe, Kucherov and Cernak all potted goals in a 56-second span to chase Markstrom from the game, and Point and Verhaeghe, who scored twice in the third, provided the final margin.
--Field Level Media
- NHL
