Thursday Round-Up: Bolts Hammer Flames, Canucks Blank Cats

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Nikita Kucherov had a goal and five assists, Jake Guentzel scored a hat trick and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Calgary Flames 8-3 on Thursday night.

Brayden Point had a goal and three assists and Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel and Conor Geekie also scored for Tampa Bay, which was without captain Victor Hedman with a lower-body injury.

Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist, and Nazem Kadri and Connor Zary also scored for Calgary.

Tampa Bay scored four unanswered goals to lead 4-1 with two power-play goals from Cirelli and Point, a breakaway goal from Kucherov and Guentzel’s first goal of the night.

Kadri and Zary countered to pull the Flames within one, but Hagel struck just 43 seconds into the third period to swing the momentum to the Lightning again. Tampa Bay poured it on with two goals by Guentzel and one from Geekie.

Andrei Vasilevskiy, who became the first Lightning goalie to play 500 games, made 19 saves in the win. The 30-year-old holds the record for most wins (306) by an NHL goalie in their first 500 games.

Flames goaltender Dan Vladar stopped 18 shots in his second straight start.

Takeaways

Lightning: Unrattled by the sudden absence of Hedman, Tampa Bay’s forward depth overwhelmed Calgary.

Flames: A penalty kill that had shown flashes of improvement — going 6 for 6 in two road games— regressed to 0 for 3, including goals on back-to-back Tampa Bay power plays in the second period.

Key moment

Two power-play goals in the second period gave the Lightning a 4-1 lead and had the Flames chasing.

Key stat

Point stretched his point streak to four straight games with three goals and 10 assists in that span.

Up next

The Lightning are at the Kraken on Saturday night to wrap up a four-game trip out West, the same night the Flames host the Panthers.

VANCOUVER (AP) – Kevin Lankinen stopped all 27 shots he faced on Thursday, backstopping the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers. 

The win marked the Finnish goalie’s third shutout of the season and sixth of his NHL career. 

Jake DeBrusk, Brock Boeser, Danton Heinen and Carson Soucy scored for the Canucks (15-8-5), while Max Sasson, Teddy Blueger, Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller each contributed a pair of assists. 

Sergei Bobrovsky made 15 saves for the Panthers (18-10-2), who lost in regulation for the first time since Nov. 25. 

Miller returned to Vancouver’s lineup after missing nearly four weeks for personal reasons. 

The loss ended Florida’s seven-game point streak (6-0-1) and marked the first time this season the defending Stanley Cup champions were held without a goal. 

TAKEAWAYS

Canucks: Defenceman Derek Forbort also returned to a Vancouver lineup that has been riddled with injuries and absences this season. All-star goalie Thatcher Demko made his first start of the campaign on Tuesday, leaving blueliner Filip Hronek (lower body) as the lone Canuck on the injured-reserve list. 

Panthers: It’s not often the Panthers’ offence sputters. Florida came into Thursday’s game ranked fifth in the league in goals for with an average of 3.66 per game. The visitors also entered with the fifth-best power play in the NHL (27.4 per cent) but went scoreless on two man-advantages.

KEY MOMENT

Lankinen was tested several times, including a Panthers’ power play midway through the second. The netminder snatched Sam Bennett’s shot out of the air at the 10:53 mark and held on tight to preserve the clean sheet. 

KEY STAT

The Panthers outshot the Canucks 27-19 but struggled at times to hold on to the puck, committing 19 giveaways across the game.

UP NEXT 

Canucks: Continue a six-game homestand on Saturday when they host the Boston Bruins.

Panthers: Visit the Flames in Calgary on Saturday.