NHL Game Recap: Canucks Still In Search For 1st Win, Losing 4-1 Against Lightning

The Vancouver Canucks took on the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Tuesday, October 15th. Vancouver is still searching for their first win of the season, losing against Tampa Bay 4-1 for their third loss straight. Conor Garland scored the lone goal for the Canucks, and Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, and Brandon Hagel all scored for the Lightning for their second victory of the season. The Canucks meet with the Florida Panthers at the Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.

Vancouver Canucks Lineup:

Bains – Miller – Boeser

Heinen – Pettersson – DeBrusk

Hoglander – Raty – Garland

Suter – Blueger – Sherwood

Hughes – Hronek

Soucy – Myers

Forbort – Juulsen

Silovs

Lankinen

Tampa Bay Lightning Lineup:

Guentzel – Point – Kucherov

Hagel – Cirelli – Paul

Eyssimont – Geekie – Sheary

Girgensons – Glendening – Chaffee

Hedman – Moser

McDonagh – Cernak

Raddysh – Perbix

Vasilevsky

Johansson

Nikita Kucherov opens the scoring early into the first period at 16:05 to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead. He shot from the right circle on a snapshot after taking a cross-ice pass from Darren Raddysh. This goal marks his fourth of the season after scoring a natural hat trick on Friday against the Carolina Hurricanes in the Lightning’s season opener, finishing with a 4-1 victory.

Coming back from a one-goal opening 20, Brayden Point extended Tampa Bay’s lead to 2-0 early in the middle frame with 12:17 on the clock when he received a drop pass from Jake Guentzel and put a one-timer past Arturs Silovs.

Just 39 seconds into the final frame, Anthony Cirelli made it a 3-0 lead for the Lightning when he buried the puck past Arturs Silovs from in front of the net. Conor Garland struck the first and only goal for the Canucks at 15:46 on a power play. Off a shot from Brock Boeser, Garland jammed the puck in from the goal line. With 1:46 remaining of regulation, Brandon Hagel sent the puck home in Vancouver’s empty net for a 4-1 final.

Conor Garland on the 4-1 loss against Tampa Bay, what all played into the result, and their matchup coming up against the Florida Panthers on Thursday: “Probably our start the most – just didn’t come out on time, which is unacceptable in our first road trip of the season. So, we put ourselves behind the eight ball… I should have had one late in the second, maybe it’s a different game. 2-1 is a big difference against a team like that,” – “We got another good team… so, we got to be at our best. We just got to get better, tighten some things up as a group, and we’ll be fine.”

Notes:

– Arturs Silovs made a total of 24 saves for the Vancouver Canucks.

– Defenseman Tyler Myers was minus-2 with two shots on goal, as well as two blocked shots in 20:00 of ice time after he made a hit on Joel Farabee in the 3-2 shootout loss on Friday against the Philadelphia Flyers.

– Andrei Vasilevsky made a total of 26 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He has 295 wins since his debut on December 16, 2014, the most in the NHL during that span.

– Nikita Kucherov has played a role in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s first five goals of this season (four goals, one assist).

– Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel, and Anthony Cirelli all recorded both a goal and an assist… Nicholas Paul recorded two assists.