TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning started slowly Tuesday night, but when they found their game, the goals came with a flurry.
In their first game back home following a four-game, nine day road trip —and opening a grueling stretch in their schedule — the Lightning struggled out of the gate against an Anaheim team that has been one of the worst in the league.
But over a six-minute stretch in the second period, the Lightning unloaded for four straight goals, taking charge in an eventual 6-1 win over the lowly Ducks.
With their first win in three games, the Lightning (36-17-3, 75 points) — who dropped the last two games of their road trip — have earned points in nine of their last 11 games, going 7-2-2 over that stretch.
They’re 14-0-1 over their last 15 games at home, and have managed at least one point in 15 consecutive home contests — a franchise record.
Tampa Bay dominated the middle period, opening the second by outshooting Anaheim 20-0. The Ducks’ first shot of the period didn’t come until 69 seconds remaining before intermission.
Nick Paul opened the scoring at the 7:15 mark in the second period, entering the zone with authority and rifling a slap shot past Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal for his 17th goal of the season, setting a new career high.
After going scoreless on their first three power plays of the night — and going 1-for-13 on the road trip before that — Ross Colton cashed in for the second power-play unit, rocketing a one-timer from above the right dot to put the Lightning up 2-0. Colton also assisted on the fourth goal of the period, by Zach Bogosian.
Anthony Cirelli scored with 9:09 left in the second, his third goal in the past five games. Nick Perbix made a pass though traffic to Cirelli camped in front, where Cirelli faked a forehand move and pulled the puck back for a backhand shot that found the back of the net as he stumbled to the ground.
Brayden Point and Corey Perry added goals in the third as the Lightning poured it on. Point’s goal was his team-high 32nd, and Perry’s marked the fifth goal from the team’s fourth line over the past four games.
Perbix notched three assists on the night for the second time this season.
A Ducks team (17-34-7, 41 points) that entered Tuesday night with a league-worst minus-96 goal differential and tied with Columbus for the lowest point percentage in the NHL (.360), put pressure on the Lightning early.
Andrei Vasilevskiy was superb early, keeping the game scoreless with a 12-save first period that included five saves on a 10-second sequence when Vasilevskiy dropped down and denied the Ducks rebound after rebound with his pads.
Vasilevskiy stopped the first 15 shots he faced before Ryan Strome ended his shutout bid with a goal at the 6:28 mark in the third period, just after Vasilevskiy turned away Trevor Zegras on a breakaway.
