Jake Guentzel scored the only shootout goal as the host Tampa Bay Lightning earned a 4-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.
Guentzel, who had a goal in regulation, beat Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal (32 saves) between the pads to open the shootout.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves for the Lightning, plus one more in the shootout, during which the Ducks twice missed the target. Tampa Bay improved to 4-1-1 in its past six games and 14-6-1 on home ice.
Anthony Cirelli and Brayden Point scored for Tampa Bay, while captain Victor Hedman became the first Lightning player ever to reach 600 assists. Nikita Kucherov dished out two helpers, raising his total with Tampa Bay to 598.
Anaheim’s Troy Terry notched his club-best 15th goal and tied Scott Niedermayer and Adam Henrique for 10th on the Ducks’ all-time points list (264).
Leo Carlsson and Robby Fabbri also scored as Anaheim fell to 1-3-2 in its past six. The Ducks have one game remaining on a season-high six-game road trip.
Anaheim’s Pavel Mintyukov had an assist in his 100th career game.
Both clubs brought 3-4-1 January marks into the matchup, and the visitors scored first. Terry put in a caroming puck at 6:03 of the first period, with Ryan Strome and Brian Dumoulin drawing assists.
The Lightning’s power-play unit leveled the game when Cirelli scored at 14:19 of the first period off helpers from Brandon Hagel and Hedman.
The Lightning dropped down to five defensemen when Erik Cernak left just 34 seconds into his first shift, struggling after a hard spill during a puck battle. Cernak did not return.
Early in the second period, Kucherov swiftly whipped a pass to Guentzel, who tallied his 10th power-play goal of the season at 2:51.
However, a hard forecheck by McTavish behind Vasilevskiy resulted in Carlsson finding the net for the second tie at 11:26 of the second period.
Point stopped in front of Dostal and put in his team-high 26th marker four minutes later for the home side’s second advantage.
In the third, Dostal was strong, stopping a pair of Hagel short-handed breakaways, and Fabbri evened it at 3 on a tip-in at 9:53.
–Field Level Media
