TAMPA, Fla. — Steven Stamkos left the building Thursday night with everyone wanting just one more goal. The Lightning captain snapped a four-game drought with a power-play goal to pull within a goal of the 500 mark in a 5-4 win over the Vancouver Canucks at Amalie Arena.
Stamkos’ shot from the left-circle on the 5-on-3 advantage at the 5:30 mark of the third period was the 499th goal of his career. He is one shy of becoming the 47th man in NHL history to reach the 500-goal milestone.
It was a strong finish for the Lightning (26-13-1), who started out slowly. They won their ninth straight home game, one they needed after a rough road trip last week and before they head out on a five-game trip to the West beginning Saturday.
Stamkos had seven chances in the game, but like the Lightning, it took time for him to find the net, as they overwhelmed the Canucks (17-21-3) late.
Mikhail Sergachev, playing in his 400th career NHL game, recorded an assist on the Lightning’s first goal, his 30th point. It was his sixth season with at least 30 points, second in franchise history among defensemen behind Victor Hedman.
Nikita Kucherov scored his 17th goal of the season at 15:44 of the second by following his own shot on goal. Collin Delia stopped that one and Stamkos’ attempt to stuff in the rebound, before the puck squirted out to Kucherov at the side of the goal and he knocked it back in. It was his third goal in three games and made him the third player to reach the 60-point mark in the NHL this season.
Brandon Hagel followed it up with 31 seconds to play in the period. Hagel won a faceoff in the defensive zone, following Alex Killorn as he fought his way through to the Canucks’ zone and finishing off a nifty spin-around pass from Killorn by burying the puck in the net for a 4-2 Lightning lead going into the third.
Killorn had scored on a spin-around snap shot 2:30 into the second period to give the Lightning a 2-1 lead, but Tampa Bay took a penalty for too many men on the ice and let its lead go. Former Lighting forward J.T. Miller got a breakaway on the power play and tapped a backhander behind Andrei Vasilevskiy to tie the game at 5:44.
The Canucks, who blew a 3-0 lead over the Penguins in their last game, came out strong. Vancouver had the first eight shots on goal and outchanced the Lightning 10-3 to start the game. It took the 1-0 lead on a quick strike on Vasilevskiy, with Bo Horvath firing a shot from just outside the crease. The Lightning goalie deflected it straight to Conor Garland, who tapped it right into the net at 4:14.
Even on the power play, against the worst penalty-kill team in the NHL, the Lightning were on their heels. With just four seconds left in the two-minute power play, Corey Perry tipped a Sergachev shot from the blue line past Delia to tie the game at 14:37 of the first.
Quinn Hughes scored at 14:40 of the third and Elias Pettersson at 17:52 to cut the Lightning lead to a goal.
