Canucks struck down by Lightning
Written by on February 9th, 2010 in Latest News.
The Vancouver Canucks fell victim to two red-hot hockey players in Antero Niittymaki and Martin St. Louis.
Niittymaki stopped 39 of 40 shots and St. Louis scored twice in the third period, including the small-handed winner, as the Tampa Bay Lightning struck down the visiting Canucks 3-1 on Tuesday night.
St. Louis also earned an help, while Steven Stamkos contributed a goal and help for the Lightning (26-21-11), winners of four straight games and seven of their last nine (7-1-1).
It is Tampa Bay’s first four-game winning streak since November 2007.
Ryan Kesler answered with a power-play goal for the Canucks (35-21-2), now 2-3 on their eight-game, pre-Olympic road trek.
“We want to make sure we are better than .500 on the road trip,” Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo said. “Our road record is not where we want it to be and we have to find ways to be better on the road.”
Vancouver had several chances to open the scoring early in the first period, with both Mikael Samuelsson and Henrik Sedin ringing shots off the left post and Steve Bernier clanking a shot off the crossbar behind Niittymaki.
At the other end, Stamkos staked Tampa Bay to a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the contest, firing a wrist shot from the faceoff circle past Luongo for his 31st goal this season.
Stamkos has points in each of his past 10 games, compiling eight goals and eight assists over that span.
The Canucks outshot the Lightning 15-5 in the second, but Niittymaki held them at bay, including foiling Alex Burrows on a breakaway.
But with seven seconds left, Kesler received a return pass from Christian Erhoff off a faceoff and counted his 15th goal on a rising screen shot from the top of the circle.
“It was a fantastic screen by Bernier and a fantastic shot by Kesler,” Canucks assistant coach Rick Bowness said.
St. Louis restored Tampa Bay’s lead on an odd-man rush with Stamkos 2:52 into the third period, collecting Kyle Wellwood’s blind pass in the neutral zone and curling the puck inside of Erhoff before snapping a shot between Luongo’s pads for a gorgeous small-handed tally.
Luongo kept the Canucks within striking distance with a lunging glove save on Vincent Lecavalier — it was upheld by video review — but St. Louis’ second goal of the game and 20th overall completed the scoring with 4:20 remaining.
With files from The Canadian Press
