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 This time, Bishop lasted until the end, making 33 saves and
leading the Lighting to a 5-2 victory over the Sharks in the opener
of a season-high, five-game road trip.
Lightning center Steven Stamkos scored his 30th goal of the season.
Left wingers Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat and Cedric Paquette and
right winger Ryan Callahan also scored for Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay gave up three or more goals in each of its five previous
games, and Bishop hadn't had much luck or received much defensive
help from his teammates.
"It was important for me," Bishop said of the victory. "You look at
the past few games and the numbers aren't really where you want them
to be, but then you watch the game and it's kind of like you're
doing the right things. It was important just not to change
anything, just go out there and keep doing what I've been doing all
year.
"Kind of a rough patch in the year where I think it was like five
goals off your own players in four games or something. It's a long
year. There's a lot of ups and downs. You try not to get too low,
you try not to get too high. So after a win like this, you don't get
too high. It gets even harder."
Center Logan Couture and defenseman Brent Burns scored for San Jose,
which lost its fifth consecutive home game.
"This is frustrating," Couture said. "The mistakes we make are
things we work on, we practice on and watch video. When you
constantly make the same mistakes every single night, you question
whether you are prepared to play.
"These are things that should have been fixed in Week 2 of the
season. We all go through training camp learning the system. You
have to play it. I don't care whether you're a rookie or a veteran.
Our attention to details is not where it should be. It's the entire
team. You lose when the team is not on the same page, and that's
what we're going through right now."
The Lightning (35-17-6) took a 2-1 lead into the third period and
needed just 10 seconds to make it 3-1 on Palat's 12th goal of the
season.
Burns turned the puck over in San Jose's end, and Palat quickly made
him pay, scoring an unassisted goal from the right circle, beating
Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi (28 saves).
"The puck bounced right to me," said Palat, who ended an 11-game
goalless streak. "I shot it. I think it hit their D and just bounced
into the net. I needed a goal like that."
Burns cut Tampa Bay's lead to 3-2 at 11:38 with a power-play goal,
his 15th goal of the season. Left winger Patrick Marleau sent Burns
a pass in the slot, and Burns flipped it over Bishop's shoulder.
Paquette increased the Lightning's lead to 4-2 at 16:19, firing a
shot from the right circle that got past Niemi's glove.
Callahan scored an empty-net goal with 2:19 left to play.
"There are mistakes on every goal," Burns said. "It's going to
happen. It's a game of mistakes. We played pretty hard. You don't
want to make mistakes, and it's our job not to make them. It
happens."
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Tampa Bay, coming off a 6-3 loss Thursday to the St. Louis Blues,
opened its road trip with its first victory at SAP Center since
March 23, 2003. The Lightning ended a five-game losing streak in San
Jose.
Stamkos gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead with 16 seconds left in the
first period, scoring during a delayed penalty.
Stamkos hammered a one-timer from the point that deflected off
Sharks right winger Tommy Wingels' stick and past Niemi, sneaking
inside the left post. Defenseman Anton Stralman and center Valtteri
Filppula got the assists, and Killorn provided a screen in front of
Niemi.
"We looked at our past couple losses and we've been down 2-0, 3-0,
so we talked about getting off to a good start," Stamkos said.
Stamkos reached the 30-goal mark for the fourth time in his career
and first time since the 2011-12 season, when he scored 60 goals.
The Lightning increased their lead to 2-0 at 7:12 of the second
period when Killorn deflected a shot by Callahan past Niemi for his
12th goal of the season. Stamkos sent a cross-ice pass to Callahan,
who fired a shot from the right circle, and Killorn did the rest.
San Jose (29-21-8) broke through at 10:27 of the second period when
Couture scored his 21st goal of the season, slicing Tampa Bay's lead
to 2-1. Couture took a pass in the slot from left winger Matt Nieto
and ripped a shot inside the left post.
NOTES: Lightning LW Cedric Paquette returned to the lineup after
missing two games with an upper-body injury. ... Sharks D
Marc-Edouard Vlasic was activated from injured reserve and returned
to the lineup after missing four games with an upper-body injury. He
replaced D Mirco Mueller in the lineup. ... Sharks D Dylan DeMelo
was reassigned to the club's AHL affiliate in Worcester, Mass.,
making room on the active roster for Vlasic. ... Lightning C Brenden
Morrow and D Mark Barberio were healthy scratches. ... Sharks RW
Tyler Kennedy and LF John Scott were healthy scratches. ... Sharks D
Justin Braun, who has been sidelined with a broken left hand since
Jan. 19, practiced Saturday, and coach Todd McLellan said there is a
possibility Braun would return for the Stadium Series game against
the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday at Levi's Stadium.
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reserved.]
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