Lightning 5, Ducks 0
TAMPA, Fla. -- Goalie Ben Bishop was sterling in the net picking up his first shutout of the season, center Steven Stamkos was a force on offense and the Tampa Bay Lightning looked like it might have finally turned a corner.
That was the hope after the Lightning, looking as much like last year's Stanley Cup finalist as it has all season, dominated the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night 5-0 at the Amalie Arena.
Combined with the Lightning's 2-1 victory on Thursday to end the New York Rangers' nine-game winning streak, in which it played without five of its top nine forwards due to injuries, these might be the two best games Tampa Bay has played this season.
Anaheim was 6-2-2 coming into the game.
The Lightning won their second straight game for the first time since opening the season 3-0, and the five goals were the most it has scored since beating Boston 6-3 in that third game.
After a scoreless first period against Anaheim, a flurry of Lightning goals -- two by center Steven Stamkos -- in the second broke the game open.
Despite being outshot 13-9 in the period, it was the Lightning which made the most of its chances.
Right wing Nikita Kucherov scored his sixth goal of the season, second-most on the team, when he put away what appeared to be an attempted shot by defenseman Andrej Sustr from just inside the right circle at the 5:57 mark to make it 1-0.
Sustr's misfire slid perfectly to Kucherov, who was stationed just outside the crease.
The goal was set up by some nifty work by right wing Joel Vermin, playing in his second NHL game after being called up from Syracuse due to the Lightning's shortage of forwards because of injuries.
The 23-year-old skated down the left side, faked a shot, went behind the net and fired a pass to Sustr, who managed to find Kucherov to give Vermin a secondary assist and his first point of his NHL career.
Tampa Bay struck again when Anaheim lost the puck just outside the zone and right wing Ryan Callahan poked the puck away to Stamkos.
The Lightning captain skated to the top of the right circle and ripped a shot over Anaheim goalie Frederik Andersen's right shoulder for a 2-0 lead at the 12:35 mark.
Barely a minute later, it was Stamkos lighting the lamp again on a power play. Center Vladislav Namestnikov centered a pass to right wing Nikita Kucherov, who tapped a perfect cross-crease feed to Stamkos for the put-away at 13:49 against the league's No. 1-rated penalty killing team.
The goal, his team-high 11th this season, marked the first time since Oct. 15 against Dallas that Stamkos scored multiple goals in a game.
Center Brian Boyle made it 4-0 for the Lightning with 14:31 remaining the game, and center Jonathan Marchessault, another of the recent call-ups from Syracuse, poked home his own rebound for his first NHL goal to cap the scoring for Tampa Bay.
NOTES: Right wing Joel Vermin, playing in his second NHL game after being called up from Syracuse due to the Lightning shortage of forwards because of injuries, passed to defense Andre Sustr to help set up the first goal and got a secondary assist and the first point of his NHL career. ... Lightning F Ryan Callahan returned Saturday after missing Thursday's win over the New York Rangers because of an upper body injury. Callahan practiced Friday. ... Tampa Bay C Tyler Johnson, who also missed the last game because of an upper body injury, was held out again, along with LW Jonathan Drouin (undisclosed injury). ... The Ducks recalled D Shane O’Brien, 31, on Saturday from the San Diego Gulls, Anaheim's minor league team in the American Hockey League. ... Lightning C Cedric Paquette (upper body) came off injured reserve after Saturday's game, but still might not be ready to play. ... Ducks D Hampus Lindholm (upper body) did not play, and C Michael Sgarbossa was a scratch. ... Lightning assistant Brad Lauer faced his former team for the first time Saturday night. Lauer was fired by Anaheim in the offseason after four seasons as a coach with the Ducks.