The Vancouver Canucks opened a four-game road trip at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night in search of their first win of the season.
The Canucks dropped back-to-back games on home ice last week to start the season. Vancouver trailed 4-1 and fell 6-5 in overtime against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday, and followed that up with a 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday.
“We lost two games in overtime, so we have to be careful. Can we play better? Yes. Can we make a better frame to combine (in) certain areas? Yes, but that’s because of the new players, who are unfamiliar, and I don’t blame them,” said Canucks coach Rick Tocchet. “Some of the boys haven’t played many games. There are just some covering things that we have to fix.”
Forward Brock Boeser has two goals in two games, and captain Quinn Hughes has two assists.
The Canucks’ two goalies have split the first two games of the season. The first was Artus Silovs, who gave up all six goals against Calgary with a 5.94 goals against average and a .769 save percentage.
Kevin Lankinen allowed two goals before a shootout against Philadelphia and posted a .935 save percentage. Lankinen has five appearances against the Lightning and is 0-3-1 with a 4.37 GAA and .872 save percentage.
Vancouver and Tampa Bay split the season series last season, with the Lightning winning 4-3 on Oct. 19 and the Canucks clinched the division with a 4-1 win on Dec. 12.
Tampa Bay returns to action after Saturday’s home game against the Carolina Hurricanes was postponed due to Hurricane Milton.
On Friday, the Lightning opened the season with a 4-1 win over the Hurricanes in Raleigh, NC Forward Nikita Kucherov, who won the Art Ross Trophy last season as the NHL’s leading scorer, had a natural hat trick in the third period and added an assist. in victory.
“It was a good first step against Carolina, but you watch the tape again, and it’s like, ‘We have a lot of work to do,'” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “Our game, our fight and our competitiveness was very high. I liked the way we closed the third (but) we have to put ourselves in a better position to win these games going forward.
“We’ll take our two points and move on from here this week.”
Tampa Bay captain Victor Hedman had three assists, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves in the win.
Jake Guentzel, who signed a seven-year contract with the Bolts in free agency this summer, added two assists in his first game for the Lightning.
“There were a lot of great things that came out of that game that we did well – obviously some things we still need to tighten up,” forward Anthony Cirelli said. “There are a lot of oddball races given there — little things that I think we have to focus on a little bit and get ready for the next game.”
Tuesday is the first of two meetings between the Canucks and the Lightning. The two teams conclude the season series on Dec. 8 in Vancouver.
–Field Level Media
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