Jake Guentzel scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period as the Tampa Bay Lightning kept their home slate clean with a 4-2 comeback win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday afternoon.
Guentzel, who also had an assist, gave Tampa Bay its first lead at 2:04 of the third period when his long shot deflected off the stick of Vancouver’s Liam Ohgren for his fourth goal of the season.
Pontus Holmberg added an insurance goal with just over four minutes left as the Lightning improved to 5-0-0 at home by potting four unanswered goals.
Nikita Kucherov tallied twice, and Brayden Point had two assists. Goaltender Dennis Hildeby made 12 saves.
Linus Karlsson and center Elias Pettersson netted for the Canucks, who finished 0-5-1 on their East Coast road trip. Goalie Kevin Lankinen, who entered with a 6.88 goals-against average, stopped 31 shots.
As the Florida Panthers did against Vancouver on Thursday, Tampa Bay controlled play and generated early scoring chances but struggled to beat the opposing goalie. Vancouver did not register its first shot on Hildeby until Elias Pettersson put one on goal at 6:53.
In his club’s best chance early, Guentzel had a wide-open cage on an odd-man rush, but Lankinen stretched out and made a sprawling kick save at 9:02 to keep it scoreless.
Just after a Kucherov penalty for tripping expired, Filip Chytil worked the puck behind Hildeby’s net and found Paul Cotter, who delivered an off-balance pass to Karlsson. The winger scored his second goal of the season at 15:32 to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead.
On Vancouver’s second power play, Pettersson made it 2-0 with a shot from nearly no angle to Hildeby’s left. The attempt caromed in off the goalie at 4:35 for Pettersson’s third tally of the year.
Kucherov answered less than two minutes later on the Lightning’s first power play of the game and added another right off a faceoff nearly five minutes later to knot it 2. The score remained tied through 40 minutes despite the Lightning holding a 26-12 advantage in shots.
