LDN - Sports

Canucks end three-game slide with 4-2 win

[December 17, 2016] VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Bo Horvat took advantage of a lucky bounce to score a power-play goal in the third period as the Vancouver Canucks snapped a three-game losing skid by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Friday night.

Brandon Sutter, Luca Sbisa, with his first goal of the season, and Alex Burrows, into an empty net, also scored for Vancouver. Loui Eriksson and Markus Granlund had two assists each for the Canucks (13-16-2).

Victor Hedman and Cory Conacher scored for Tampa Bay (15-14-2).

Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller stopped 25 shots. Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 stops.

The Canucks are 3-5-0 in their last eight. The Lightning are 1-4-1 in their last five.

Horvat put Vancouver ahead at 7:46 of the third period on a strange play.

With the Canucks on the power play, Granlund attempted a shot into the Lightning zone that careened off Eriksson at the blue line. The shot seemed to surprise Vasilevskiy, who made the save, but a streaking Horvat put the rebound over the goalie's shoulder.

It was Horvat's first goal in eight games. The assist was the 300th of Eriksson's career.

The Lightning had tied the score on Conacher's power-play goal at 3:53 after Jannik Hansen was sent off for tripping. Conacher took a pass from Jonathan Drouin, waited a beat, then beat Miller with a high wrist shot. It was Conacher's first goal in his third NHL game of the season.

The Canucks scored twice in the second period to take a 2-1 lead into the third.

Sutter tied the score at 1:37 of the second after Eriksson forced a turnover in the Tampa Bay end. Granlund, playing on his knees along the boards, fed Sutter a pass in the high slot. He scored his eighth of the season on a shot that squeezed between Vasilevskiy's blocker and body.

Sbisa gave Vancouver the lead at 13:25. Alex Burrows fired a shot from the point that Vasilevskiy stopped, but Sbisa scored on the rebound. It was Sbisa's 15th goal in 414 NHL games.

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Hedman opened the scoring for the Lightning at 6:31 of the first period.

The goal started when Brian Boyle won a faceoff in the Canucks' zone. Valtteri Filppula picked the puck off the boards and sent a cross-ice pass to Hedman, who scored on a one-touch shot. Miller was bumped on the play by Canucks defenseman Nikita Tryamkin.

The Canucks thought they had scored a power-play goal with just 1:55 gone in the game when Ben Hutton's shot from the point beat Vasilevskiy through traffic. A review showed the play was offside.

The Canucks beat the Lightning 5-1 on Nov. 8 in Florida.

NOTES: D Chris Tanev returned to the Canucks' lineup after missing 20 games with an ankle injury. He played an average 20:09 in the seven games before his injury. ... D Erik Gudbranson missed the game with an undisclosed injury. ... C Brendan Gaunce was a healthy scratch. ... Prior to the game, former D Mattias Ohlund was inducted into Vancouver's Ring of Honor. ... Vancouver's homestand continues Sunday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. ... Tampa Bay RW Nikita Kucherov (lower body) and LW Ondrej Palat, who suffered an undisclosed injury in Wednesday's win over Calgary, didn't dress. ... RW Ryan Callahan (lower body) skated with the team Friday morning but missed his eighth straight game. ... Tampa recalled RW Erik Condra from Syracuse of the AHL. ... D Nikita Nesterov was a healthy scratch. ... The Lightning play 16 back-to-back games this year, their most since 2010-11. ... Tampa's road trip continues Saturday in Edmonton.

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