Game Recap: Improved Lightning Can’t Beat Sharks

Jonathan Drouin scored in the second period for the Tampa Bay Lightning (21-21-5) and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves but lost his sixth straight start 2-1 to the San Jose Sharks last night at the SAP Center. The Bolts again played well enough to win but came away with nothing in a game they needed to win.

“I think it was a good game for us if you look at our play,” Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman said. “We just can’t find the back of the net. It’s a little tough when [we] finally turn our game around and play some good hockey and you can’t find the goal.”

Ryan Carpenter gave San Jose a 1-0 lead at 5:01 of the second period when he beat Vasilevskiy with a slap shot from the right circle that deflected off Lightning defenseman Nikita Nesterov.

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Drouin tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal. his 14th, at 6:51, assisted by Brian Boyle (5) and Nikita Kucherov (25). It was maybe Drouin’s best goal as an NHLer.

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Logan Couture scored the game winner 22 seconds into the third period, by bouncing a shot from the slot through the legs of goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.

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“(The puck) somehow found its way through,” defenseman Anton Stralman said of the Couture goal. “That’s the kind of stuff that makes it a little bit more frustrating. We’re not getting those (breaks) right now.”

The Lightning outshot the Sharks 25-24, went 1 for 3 on the power play and 1 for 1 oin the penalty kill.

San Jose’s backup goalie Aaron Dell was fantastic, stopping 24 of the 25 the Bolts put on him.

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Tampa Bay will travel to Arizona to take on the Coyotes on Saturday at 8:00 PM.

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