Lightning Lose 5-4 In Shootout Despite Better Effort

Although the entire Tampa Bay Lightning team made a solid effort on both sides of the puck against the Canucks after falling behind by two goals, they still lost the contest 5-4 in a shootout thanks to a lone goal by Mason Raymond in the shootout.

In what was another slow first period for Tampa Bay, it fell behind by two goals. The first goal was a bit unlucky for the Lightning. It was a power play goal scored by Edler seconds after Martin St. Louis was sent off for supposedly interfering with Vancouver goaltender, Cory Schneider. Although the men wearing stripes thought it was worthy of a goaltender interference call, it certainly did not appear to have been a penalty at all. St. Louis was in fact run into by a Canucks player. Nonetheless, the Canucks took the early lead.

When it seemed like the Lightning could take advantage of its own power play call, the Canucks instead grabbed momentum and extended their lead on a shorthanded goal from Jannik Hansen.

Even though the Lightning were down by two goals, Steven Stamkos cut that two goal deficit in half when he scored at 10:12 of the second period after Ryan Malone fed it to him from the corner boards. Then, Manny Malhotra, who has lacked in the scoring department lately, scored minutes later to extend Vancouver's lead to 3-1.

The Lightning didn't back down though and continued to push, generating more pressure and quality shots on Schneider in the second period. Schneider though, was focused on occupying the net, and he did that quite well in the middle stanza. With only 60 seconds left in the second period one did go in, thanks to a wrist shot from captain Vincent Lecavalier.

Seconds later though, Ryan Kesler ran into Tampa Bay goaltender Roloson and appeared to have interfered with him, but instead scored a goal and the on ice officials did not see it in the Lightning's favor, giving the Canucks a two goal lead going into the third period.

Steven Stamkos Returns From Locker Room

Good news Lightning fans. Steven Stamkos is back on the ice for the third period after going to the locker room in the second period following a hard check into the boards. .

Canucks Lead Lightning 4-2 After Second Period

Steven Stamkos cut the Canucks lead in half at 10:12 of the second period after Ryan Malone played the puck from the boards and fed Stamkos for his league leading 29th goal of the season. A few minutes later, Manny Malhotra, who has not had stellar numbers this season, found the back of the net to extend Vancouver’s lead to 3-1.

The Lightning continued to generate pressure on Canucks goaltender Cory Schneider, including Stamkos being robbed by Schneider on a breakaway. Following that glove save, Vincent Lecavalier scored on a rebound with only 31.6 second left in the second period.

Seconds after the Lightning goal, Stamkos was checked in the Lightning zone and immediately skated off to the team locker room.

To make matters worse for Tampa Bay, Ryan Kessler ran into Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson and although it appeared there was evidence of goaltender inference, Kesler was credited with the goal, which was scored with 1.4 seconds before the period expired.

Canucks Lead Lightning 2-0 After First

The first period could have been an uglier one for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who were very soft on the puck for the majority of it, but a more aggressive effort in the latter minutes of the period.

The Vancouver Canucks showed why they were the league leaders in power play goals scored when Alexander Edler put one behind Dwayne Roloson at 2:36. Although the power play came because of a botched goaltender interference call to Martin St. Louis (who was pushed in the Vancouver goaltender),the Canucks got on the board anyway.

It looked like the Bolts could get on the board when they went on the power play but the Canucks were able to take a 2-0 lead on a shorthanded goal scored by Jannik Hansen.

Tampa Bay did get another power play chance at 15:50, where they played more aggressively and got four shots on Cory Schneider.

Shots at the end of the first period were Canucks: 9 and Lightning: 7.

Lightning Host First Place Canucks: Game Preview

After losing three straight on the road games, the Tampa Bay Lightning will face the Vancouver Canucks at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. Dwayne Roloson gets the nod in net tonight against the first place Canucks.