NHL Update: Tampa Bay Lightning nipped Phoenix Coyotes, 8-3
Teddy Purcell registered the first hat trick of his career, as Tampa Bay Lightning escaped St. Pete Times Forum with an 8-3 victory over red-hot Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday night.
"That was pretty cool," Purcell said. "My first hat trick since street hockey when I was 10 or 12, probably. You get a hat trick and, obviously, the two points, it's a great night."
Vincent Lecavalier scored a goal and earned four assists for Tampa Bay, which had lost its previous three games. Martin St. Louis lit the lamp twice and picked up an assist in the lopsided win.
Adam Hall and Stevenhttp://stats.sympatico.ca/nhl/player.asp?id=Stamkos each also notched a goal, while Dwayne Roloson turned away 25 shots in the win.
Martin Hanzal, Kyle Turris and David Schlemko all found the net for Phoenix, which had an eight-game winning streak halted. Jason LaBarbera was a hard-luck loser, surrendering all eight goals on 39 shots in the setback. Shane Doan had an assist for the victors.
"Sometimes a game like this slaps you in the face, gets you back to reality a little bit," said Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett. "You just have to recognize there's some challenges ahead."
Lightning used a five-goal burst to completely dominate the play in the opening stanza, out-shooting Phoenix by a 19-6 edge and capitalizing on their power-play opportunities.
Purcell got off to a blazing start to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 early lead just two minutes into the contest. The goal came when Lightning had pushed hard into the Coyotes zone. Shortly after Tampa Bay set up its attack, Purcell grabbed the disc along the right
boards and ripped it through two Phoenix defensemen, who acted as a partial screen on net minder.
St. Louis doubled the lead, 2-0, just one minute later when he jammed his own rebound into the net.
Lightning then followed with three straight power-play goals.
St. Louis struck again to make it 3-0 game just eight minutes into the game, when he chipped in a rebound of a Lecavalier’s shot. Then, with five minutes left in the same period, Stamkos increased the lead to 4-0 when he was in perfect position to take a
long rebound to the left of the crease, and he stuffed it home.
Lecavalier staked Lightning to a 5-0 advantage on a 5-on-3 rush with two minutes to play in the opening frame. The goal came when he received a pass from St. Louis and let go a one-timer past an unscreened LaBarbera from the right circle.
Purcell notched his second goal to give Tampa Bay a huge 6-0 advantage nearly 2 ½ minutes into the middle session. The goal was set up by Lecavalier, who swept a quick, short pass from the goal line into the slot, where Purcell knocked it into the net.
Lecavalier also helped in completing Purcell’s hat trick just eight minutes into the second period, as he sent a cross-ice pass in front and Purcell hit the puck home to make it 7-0 game.
"He's a dominant player for us," St. Louis said of Lecavalier. "He's been our best player the last couple weeks, I think, and it showed tonight."
Hanzal put Phoenix on the board to cut the deficit to 7-1 a few minutes later, but it was too late and the deficit was too much for Coyotes to overcome.
Hall tallied the final goal for Lightning to build a huge 8-1 lead just five minutes into the final frame, while Turris and Schlemko scored for Coyotes later in the period to finish the game at 8-3.
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