The Vancouver Canucks stifled a quick start by Brayden Point to down the Tampa Bay Lightning Tuesday night, 4-1. Brock Boeser scored a hat trick, Andrei Kuzmenko added one goal and Quinn Hughes had two assists in a dominant performance at Rogers Arena.
Tampa Bay opened the game quickly with Point’s 13th goal of the season only 85 seconds into the game. The first five minutes of play went all the Bolts’ way until Vancouver found their groove. Kuzmenko found the back of the net with a slap shot on the power play to take the steam right out of the Lightning’s momentum.
Vancouver never looked back from that point. The win was the Canucks’ third in a row.
Boeser would score two goals within five minutes of each other midway through the second period. Netminder Thatcher Demko stopped all but one of the 29 shots he faced and made some key saves to keep the Bolts’ offense in check. Former Lightning defenseman Ian Cole and the Vancouver defense took control of the ice and keep the Tampa Bay offense quiet.
PASSING PERFECTION 🤌 pic.twitter.com/BUhwl1ELSc
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) December 13, 2023
The Bolts pushed towards the end of the game, but came up empty at the end. At the final tally, Tampa Bay outshot Vancouver, 29-22. Thirteen of those shots came in the third period. The Lightning fall to 1-2 on the current road trip.
Where did the Power Play go?
Following a strong power play performance against Seattle Saturday night, Tampa Bay was 0-for-3 on the power play against Vancouver. The Lightning struggled to maintain control of the puck on the power play and were only able to muster six shots overall with the man-advantage. Vancouver played their kill game effectively, keeping the Lightning out of the zone and forcing the puck down the ice numerous times.
The Lightning Power Play is 2-for-15 in the past five games.
“When we lose the special teams game, that’s tough for us,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper lamented. “It helps to win that special teams war, and we didn’t tonight.”
Kucherov kept in place
After an all-star performance over the weekend (2 goals, 1 assist vs. Seattle), Nikita Kucherov was silenced Tuesday. In 26 minutes of ice time, Kucherov never got off a shot. Steven Stamkos was also shutout despite some strong shots on net. Defensively, the Bolts struggled without Victor Hedman, who was scratched from the lineup.
Three Stars of the Game
1. Brock Boeser, Vancouver.
2. Thatcher Demko, Vancouver
3. Quinn Hughes, Vancouver
Up Next
The Lightning (13-12-5) travel to Edmonton to face the Oilers (13-12-1) Thursday night at 9:00pm ET.
