TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - The Anaheim Ducks special teams played a key role in a bounce-back win.
Rickard Rakell and Brandon Montour had rare power-play goals, John Gibson made 31 saves and the Ducks rebounded from a one-sided loss by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 Saturday night.
Anaheim entered with the NHL’s second-worst power play, going 2 for 31 over their first nine games. The Ducks went 2 for 2 with the man advantage, while Tampa Bay’s second-best unit in the NHL failed to score on four chances.
“Special teams turned it, that was it,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
Rakell got his second goal midway through the third and Hampus Lindholm also scored for the Ducks, who were beat 8-3 Thursday night at Florida. Ryan Getzlaf had three assists.
“We knew, obviously, we had to be better when you get embarrassed like that,” Gibson said. “We knew we were playing a good team, so we definitely had to be on our game.”
Tampa Bay, which lost for just the second time in regulation (9-2-1), got a goal from Chris Kunitz. Backup goalie Peter Budaj stopped 17 shots in his second game of the season.
Lightning stars Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov both snapped franchise record-tying 11-game point streaks to start the season. Martin St. Louis also accomplished the feat in 2009-10.
Stamkos and Kucherov were limited to two shots apiece.
“Those guys are as good as they get in the league right now,” Getzlaf said. “Obviously, what they’re doing we pay special attention to them.”
Rakell opened the scoring at 10:13 of the second on the Ducks’ first power play.
After Montour, on the power play, and Kunitz traded goals 57 seconds apart late in the second, Lindholm made it 3-1 from the high slot with 0.1 second left in the period.
“I knew there were a few seconds left, so I tried cheating down a little bit (from the blue line),” Lindhom said. “It ends up right on my stick.”
Gibson made a lunging stop on Yanni Gourde’s wraparound and Stamkos’ left circle power-play shot in the second.
NOTES: Rakell, bidding for a hat rick, hit the post of an empty net with 90 seconds to go. …. Both Anaheim D Sami Vatanen (shoulder surgery) and backup G Ryan Miller (upper body) were in the lineup for the first time this season. … Anaheim RW Patrick Eaves (Guillain-Barre syndrome) has been released from the hospital. … Ducks D Cam Fowler, who hurt his knee Oct. 20, will be out another three to seven weeks. … Anaheim D Kevin Bieksa (left hand) should get timetable for his return after being re-evaluated Monday. … Lightning D Dan Girardi played in his 800th NHL game. … The Ducks reassigned D Steve Oleksy and LW Kalie Kossila to San Diego of the AHL.
UP NEXT
Ducks: Complete a four-game trip Sunday at Carolina.
Lightning: Play Monday night at Florida.
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