Anthony Duclair scored against his former team as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1.
Anthony Duclair scored against his former team as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1.
Duclair hit 20 goals on the season and Nikita Kucherov had four assists in the game, bringing his point total to 122. Tampa Bay also got goals from Brayden Point (2) and Nick Paul. Andrei Vasilevskiy won his 26th game of the season and stopped 21 shots.
William Eklund scored the lone goal for the Sharks despite being demoted to the fourth line. Mackenzie Blackwood returned from injury and made 17 saves.
"I think today was a huge step in the right direction. You're not always going to have ups in the season. You're going to have some downs, and I'm learning here. I'm going to keep learning and be a better person," Eklund said postgame. "I feel good. It's a lot of games. We've played a lot of good teams, and I think we all are grinding right now."
San Jose had its moments of offensive attack but couldn't beat one of the top goalies in the world. Their effort tonight was much better than their last game, where they lost 8-2.
"I really liked the first two periods. I thought we managed the puck really well and defended hard. I thought we played a really good game, and then I thought, obviously, you get the powerplay goal to start the third, and we get demoralized, and we get a little sloppy," Sharks head coach David Quinn said postgame. "It's a really good team we just played, and, you know, I wish we were able to be a little bit more opportunistic in the second. [Vasilevskiy] made two or three big-time saves."
Nick Paul gets a lucky bounce as the puck bounces off the referee behind the net, then back in front of him for his 19th goal of the season. Blackwood thought the puck was rimmed around the net.
William Eklund ties it up with his 11th goal of the season after he got a great pass from Jacob MacDonald.
Brayden Point scored on the powerplay 34 seconds into the third period. It was his 39th goal of the season.
Anthony Duclair roofs a backhander over Blackwood for his 20th goal of the season.
Point gets his 40th goal of the season after Kucherov found him with an incredible pass.
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