Ducks 2 - 3 Lightning
Final
  for this game

Stamkos provides two goals, Bolts shade Ducks

Feb 22, 2012 - 4:57 AM Tampa, FL (Sports Network) - Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

Teddy Purcell added a goal and two assists while Mathieu Garon stopped 28 shots for the Lightning, who have won three straight.

"This was huge for the team and huge for a lot of the players," said Stamkos. "We wanted to get this win for us and the fans before we headed out on the road."

Tampa, though, got some bad news on Tuesday as captain Vincent Lecavalier is out indefinitely with a non-displaced fracture in his right hand.

Bobby Ryan and Saku Koivu both posted a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who have dropped two of three. Jonas Hiller was touched for all three goals on 16 shots in the loss.

"Against a team like that you have to be really careful because they can score on any shift," said Ryan. "Especially that top line with Stamkos, you have to keep your eye on him all the time and we didn't do a good job of that."

Cam Fowler was called for hooking just 22 seconds into the game and that led to a Tampa goal six seconds later when Stamkos was able to jam it in from the left side.

Stamkos, the leading goal-scorer in the NHL, posted his 42nd goal of the season with 2:02 to play in the first. Brett Clark blasted a shot on net from the left point that missed, but it bounced off the backboard and went to the right where Stamkos was to put it in for the easy goal.

The Ducks scored just 40 seconds into the second as Ryan grabbed the puck at the left circle and centered it for Koivu, who one-timed it home.

Tampa got the goal back two minutes later as Purcell skated the puck in down the right wing, stickhandled past one defender to get down low, then lifted a backhander past the glove of Hiller.

The Ducks again made it a one-goal game with 1:22 to play in the second after a bad clear was picked off along the right boards by Koivu, who sent the puck down low and Ryan redirected it between his legs for his 22nd of the season.

Garon, though, preserved the lead throughout the third period with 11 saves to grab the win.

Game Notes

Tampa plays its next three games on the road starting in Winnipeg on Thursday...Anaheim, which is 4-1-2 during an eight-game swing, plays the final contest of the trip in Carolina on Thursday...The Ducks had won the previous three in the series.






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