ANAHEIM, Calif.—Anthony Cirelli capitalized on a two-man breakaway to score 59 seconds into overtime and give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 3–2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night, Marc 24, at Honda Center.
The dramatic win extended the Lightning’s points streak to seven consecutive games.
Cirelli and Brandon Hagel had a clear path to the net after an attempted pass by Anaheim’s Mason McTavish to Alex Killorn went off a skate.
Cirelli got the loose puck, moved into the offensive zone and passed to Hagel, who sent the puck back to Cirelli, who beat goaltender Lukas Dostal on the short side.
“It was a great backcheck there by [Nick] Perbix and Hagel,” Cirelli said. “I saw Hagel out of the corner of my eye. Thought I’d give it to him and make him make a play, and it was fortunate to go in,” Cirelli said.
The overtime goal was the fourth such regular-season strike of Cirelli’s career.
Anthony Duclair and Luke Glendening also scored for the Lighting (39–25–7), who currently hold the first wild-card playoff posiiton in the NHL’s Eastern Conference. Jonas Johansson, Tampa Bay’s backup goalie, made 30 saves.
Ross Johnston and rookie defenseman Pavel Mintyukov scored for Anaheim (24–43–4), which is buried third from the bottom in the NHL overall standings. Dostal stopped 25 shots.
“Tampa is at the end of a road trip. They played last night. So, it’s an opportunity for us to get a point or two,“ Ducks Coach Greg Cronin said. ”I thought we were skating, but I thought our puck management was poor throughout most of the game until the third period.”
Duclair has points in all seven games since being acquired from the Florida Panthers. He tied Chris Tierney of the Ottawa Senators among active players for the second-longest point streak to begin a tenure with a franchise. Alex Ovechkin tops the list with points in each of his first eight games as a rookie with the Washington Capitals in 2005–06.
“Since the trade deadline we’ve really turned the corner,“ Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. ”Duclair and (defenseman Matt) Dumba have come in and really given our team a little life. “Special teams have been great and the goaltending has been excellent, and it’s added up to some points for us in the last few weeks here.”
Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov, who leads the NHL in scoring with 123 points, saw his 13-game point streak snapped. The Lightning forward had five goals and 29 points during the run, which was tied with Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers for the league’s longest this season.
Johnston scored his first goal in nearly two years with 6:11 left in the first period when he rushed to the net and tipped in Jakob Silfverberg’s pass. It snapped a 74-game NHL drought, with his last one coming when he was with the New York Islanders.
Duclair evened it 7:50 into the second when he put in a rebound. It was Duclair’s fifth goal and ninth point with the Lightning.
Glendening put the Lightning up 2–1 late in the second period with a backhander into an open net after Dostal went down to stop an Austin Watson’s shot.
Up Next
Lightning: Host Boston on Wednesday night.Ducks: At Seattle on Tuesday night.
