NHL

Anaheim Ducks at Tampa Bay Lightning

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Stamkos and Kucherov have 3-point nights as Lightning beat Ducks 5-1

Steven Stamkos increases Lightning's lead with power-play goal

Stamkos has 204 power-play goals, which ties Wayne Gretzky for 17th place. The center has 533 goals overall and moved into tie for 35th place with Frank Mahovlich. He had just two goals in his previous 12 game after a four-goal game at Edmonton last month.

“That's kind of weird,” Stamkos said about tying Gretzky. “It goes to show he did a lot of damage not on the power play, too.”

Stamkos is the first Tampa Bay player to have 100 three-point games.

Kucherov became the 183rd player to reach 800 points and has 72 this season.

Victor Hedman, Calvin de Haan and Brandon Hagel also scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves as Tampa Bay won its third straight.

Lukas Dostal stopped 36 shots and Frank Vatrano had a power-play goal for the Ducks, who have lost nine of 11 (2-8-1). Goalie John Gibson, who left Thursday's game at Carolina after two periods with an upper-body injury, was the backup.

Tampa Bay was 3 for 3 on the power play.

“In a game like this you can't have penalties,” Ducks right wing Jakob Silfverberg said. “They scored on them. It's tough to comeback from that.”

The game got chippy after Anaheim right wing Brett Leason was hurt on a hard check by Lightning defenseman Emil Martinsen Lilleberg six minutes into the second. Leason didn't return due to an upper-body injury.

“That changed the game for us,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “I honestly thought we were asleep in the first period. Quite frankly, it was very disappointing. I think the players knew my feelings after the first, I hope the kid's OK. It was a pretty clean hit. He kind of brought us into the fight.”

Anaheim coach Greg Cronin had no update postgame on Leason.

Six minutes later Hedman received two minor penalties and a 10-minute misconduct during a scrum.

Stamkos made it 2-0 at 10:56 into second. After Vatrano scored on the power play, Stamkos got the goal back when his pass went off Ducks defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin's stick at 14:47.

De Haan's and Hagel's goals came in the third period. Hedman scored on a second-period power play.

Ducks rookie center Leo Carlsson, taken second overall in the 2023 draft, participated in morning skate but missed his 10th consecutive game with a sprained right knee.

Anaheim left wing Alex Killorn, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Lightning, was honored with a video tribute and received a loud ovation in his first game back in Tampa.

“A moment in my career I'll never forget,” Killorn said. “It was special.”

UP NEXT

Ducks: Play at Florida on Monday night.

Lightning: Host Minnesota on Thursday night.

Regular Season Series

TB leads series 1-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 2nd Period 5:09 Victor Hedman Goal (7) Slap Shot, assists: Steven Stamkos (23), Nikita Kucherov (42)
Goal 2nd Period 10:56 Steven Stamkos Goal (17) Snap Shot, assists: Brayden Point (24), Nikita Kucherov (43)
Goal 2nd Period 13:20 Frank Vatrano Goal (21) Slap Shot, assists: Cam Fowler (17), Ryan Strome (18)
Goal 2nd Period 14:47 Steven Stamkos Goal (18) Wrist Shot, assists: Nikita Kucherov (44), Darren Raddysh (11)
Goal 3rd Period 9:06 Calvin de Haan Goal (2) Wrist Shot, assists: none
Goal 3rd Period 18:05 Brandon Hagel Goal (13) Wrist Shot, assists: Nicholas Paul (12), Nick Perbix (13)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/ana.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originANA https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/tb.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originTB
11 Blocked Shots 12
27 Hits 17
5 Takeaways 11
20 Shots 41
1 Power Play Goals 3
3 Power Play Opportunities 3
33.3 Power Play Percentage 100.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
24 Faceoffs Won 24
50.0 Faceoff Win Percent 50.0
7 Giveaways 7
5 Total Penalties 6
10 Penalty Minutes 20
Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Ryan McDonagh, D Day-To-Day Dec 28
Erik Cernak, D Injured Reserve Dec 27
Brandon Hagel, LW Injured Reserve Dec 20
Emil Lilleberg, D Injured Reserve Dec 15
Victor Hedman, D Injured Reserve Dec 12
Anaheim Ducks Anaheim Ducks Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Frank Vatrano, RW Day-To-Day Dec 27

Game Information

Benchmark International Arena

Location: Tampa, FL
Attendance: 19,092 | Capacity:

2025-26 Pacific Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Vegas 17 8 45 11
Anaheim 21 15 44 2
Edmonton 19 14 44 6
Los Angeles 16 12 41 9
San Jose 18 17 39 3
Seattle 15 14 36 6
Calgary 16 18 36 4
Vancouver 15 19 33 3

2025-26 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Detroit 22 14 47 3
Tampa Bay 21 13 45 3
Montreal 20 12 45 5
Florida 20 15 42 2
Buffalo 19 14 42 4
Ottawa 18 14 41 5
Boston 20 18 41 1
Toronto 17 15 39 5
Full Standings