Tampa, FL (SportsNetwork.com) – Justin Williams scored twice and Robyn Regehr
added two assists to pace Los Angeles’ 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Saturday.
Drew Doughty and Tyler Toffoli also scored for the Kings, who put an end to a
three-game skid and posted their third win in their last 10 overall.
Jonathan Quick stopped 26-of-28 shots.
Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov tallied for the Lightning, who lost for just
the third time in their last nine and saw their franchise-record, 10-game home
winning streak ended.
Ben Bishop took the loss after allowing three goals on nine shots in the first
period. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished the game with 19 saves.
Hedman drew the hosts within one after just 94 seconds into the third period,
yet Williams came to the rescue for the visitors, scoring on a blistering
drive from the right wing at 7:46 to restore LA’s two-goal edge.
Tampa Bay failed to carve into its deficit despite having an extra skater for
most of the final two minutes.
Toffoli gave the Kings a lead just 93 seconds after the opening faceoff by
stripping the puck off a Lightning player deep in the zone before scoring on a
backhander. The visitors went up 2-0 at 12:30 when Trevor Lewis fed Williams
for a redirection in front.
Doughty pushed the lead to 3-0 on a shot from the bottom of the left circle
which beat Bishop and crossed the goal line 1.5 seconds before the first
intermission.
Kucherov’s flip past an out-of-position Quick put the Bolts on the board 58
seconds into the second period.
Game Notes
Tampa dropped a 5-3 decision to Washington on Dec. 9 before embarking on their
run of success at home … Lightning assistant coach Rick Bowness was behind
the bench for his 2,000th NHL game … Tampa Bay hosts Anaheim on Sunday,
while Los Angeles completes its five-game road trip in Columbus on Monday.
