Lightning Edge Ducks, 2-1
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jonathan Drouin had a goal and an assist in his return from a six-game injury absence, and Ben Bishop made 32 saves in the Tampa Bay Lightning's 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night.
Jonathan Marchessault scored the tiebreaking power-play goal late in the second period for the Lightning, who opened a three-game California road trip with their fourth win in six games.
Bishop was solid throughout a defense-dominated game, and the Lightning beat the Ducks for the fourth straight time and the second time in two weeks, following a 5-0 win in Tampa.
Corey Perry scored and John Gibson stopped 20 shots for the Ducks, who have lost three of four. Anaheim lost in regulation at home for just the second time in 11 games.
The Ducks took another step back in a meeting of two teams with Stanley Cup aspirations currently struggling through the early season. Tampa Bay won the Eastern Conference after the best regular season in club history, while the Ducks won the Pacific Division and fell one game shy of meeting the Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final.
Center Nate Thompson made his season debut for the Ducks, returning six months after surgery to repair a labrum tear in his shoulder. Thompson spent 4 1/2 years with the Lightning before moving to Anaheim last season.
After a scoreless first period, Drouin put the Lightning ahead with a clever shot past traffic after a pass from Vladislav Namestnikov. Drouin hadn't scored in 11 games since Oct. 12, and he hadn't played since Nov. 14 during his second lengthy injury absence of the season.
Perry tied it 100 seconds later with a close-range rebound for his ninth goal of the season, but his partnership with captain Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell on the Ducks' top line didn't score again despite combining for 13 shots on Bishop.
Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov deflected another puck past Gibson moments later, but the goal was waved off on video review after officials determined Kucherov's stick had been too high.
The Lightning had another apparent goal waved off late in the period due to interference with Gibson, but Marchessault scored moments later on a sharp pass from Drouin. Anaheim has been outscored 32-10 in the second period this season.
NOTES: U.S. men's national soccer coach and longtime Orange County resident Jurgen Klinsmann attended the game. ... Anaheim scratched LW Patrick Maroon to make room for Thompson. ... Tampa Bay C Tyler Johnson missed his second straight game, and C Cedric Paquette sat out his seventh straight game. ... D Nikita Nesterov returned to the Lightning's lineup for the first time since Nov. 5, suiting up as a seventh defenseman.
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