Brian Boyle comes through in shootout to push Lightning past Ducks
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- The Tampa Bay Lightning are hopeful that a shootout win over Anaheim will jumpstart a playoff push.
Brian Boyle scored in the fourth round of the tiebreaker and the Lightning beat the Ducks 3-2 on Saturday night.
Jonathan Drouin and Alex Killorn scored in regulation, Nikita Kucherov had two assists, and Ben Bishop made 14 saves for the Lightning, who won the shootout 3-2 and improved to 4-9-2 over the last 15 games.
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Tampa Bay, which reached the Stanley Cup finals two years ago and lost in the Eastern Conference finals last season, remain in the postseason mix despite being last in the Eastern Conference.
"It's a proud group," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "They were not to be denied tonight. Angry, determined, whatever you want to say, they had it all, and it was fun to watch."
Brandon Montour and Ryan Getzlaf scored for the Ducks, who are 0-1-1 on a 14-day, six-game road trip. Jonathan Bernier stopped 35 shots, and Ryan Kesler picked up two assists.
"This is a tough road trip for us, probably the hardest one of the year," Getzlaf said.
Getzlaf got the Ducks even at 2 from the right circle 4:02 into the third.
The Ducks are 2-14-7 when trailing after two periods.
Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead midway through the second on Killorn's man-advantage goal. Anaheim has allowed a power-play goal in just two of its last 12 games.
"To start getting points, you've got to start playing the right way," Killorn said.
The Lightning went 1 of 7 on the power play, while the Ducks failed to score on five chances.
Bernier turned aside Kucherov's overtime breakaway shot. The goalie got help late in the second when defenseman Hampus Lindholm blocked Kucherov's in-close chance.
"That was great," Bernier said of Lindholm's play. "He saved the game."
Tampa Bay outshot Anaheim 15-4 during the second, with all the Ducks shots coming over the final two minutes.
Montour, recalled from San Diego of the AHL, opened the scoring at 8:14 of the first with his first NHL goal.
Drouin, who hit the post and had Bernier stopped his in-close shot during the opening two minutes, skated from the right circle to the left circle and tied it at 1 just 1:34 after Montour's goal.
Tampa Bay is 8-0-5 against Anaheim since the Ducks beat the Lightning 4-3 on Dec. 9, 2006.
NOTES
Tampa Bay defensemen have struggled scoring goals. Those with long droughts include Jason Garrison (27 games), Braydon Coburn (21), Andrej Sustr (21), Victor Hedman (14) and Anton Stralman (10). ... Ducks D Sami Vatanen, hurt Friday at Florida, didn't play due to an upper-body injury. ... Tampa Bay LW Ondrej Palat sat out with a lower-body injury. ... Anaheim D Kevin Bieksa got his 200th assist on Getzlaf's goal.
UP NEXT
Ducks: At the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.
Lightning: Host Los Angeles on Tuesday night in the finale of a four-game homestand.
