Special teams key win by Lightning

by Gary Shelton on December 9, 2024

in general

Point had a four-point night./TIM WIRT

Monday, 3 a.m.

Sometimes, hot special teams can lift a hockey team out of the doldrums.

Sunday, for instance.

The Tampa Bay Lightning dominated the game when one team or the other had a man advantage, and as a result skated to a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

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The Bolts scored twice on the power play, and they denied the Canucks on three penalty kills to take the win.

Braden Point had a four-point night — two goals and two assists — to lead the Bolts to their 14th win of the season. Point leads the NHL with 10 power play goals. 

Nikita Kucherov, who had missed the previous two games, had three points.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 22 of 24 shots for his 12th win.


jake Guentzel scored the winning goal for the Bolts with 3:46 yo play.

“I was not pleased with our effort level (in the first period),” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We lost every battle. We were lucky to be behind only 1-0.”

The Bolts play in Edmonton against the Oilers on Tuesday night at 9 p.m.

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