Monday, March 17th, 2014 4:30 PM on RSNP, SunS

Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa, Florida

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In the 4-2 loss to Tampa Bay Lighting earlier this season, Vancouver Canucks' coach John Tortorella said, “It was our worst game of the year …. we deserved to lose that one. We did.” It was the turnovers that did the Canucks in, and the strong play by Tampa Bay did not help.

Tampa Bay's Goalie Ben Bishop took home his 21st win of the season while making 28 saves. Vancouver's goalie Eddie Lack made 29 saves in a game where the shots on goal did not tell the story. Despite the many turnovers by the Canucks, the Lighting only out-shot them 33-30. The Canucks landed ten more hits than Tampa Bay and swallowed up more face-offs as well. But it just wasn't enough.

After a scoreless first period, things got heated up in the second. A 3-on-2 rush left Lack to defend the net against Valtteri Filppula, who he denied and landed on the puck to stop any rebound attempt. Later in the first, Brad Richardson broke the ice with a breakaway that gave the Canucks a 1 goal lead. After that things got exciting when the two teams managed to put in three goals in a matter of 34 seconds. Valtteri Filppula and Tyler Johnson scored two goals just 20 seconds apart, starting at the 15:27 mark. Then just 14 seconds later the Canucks joined in on the action when Zac Dalpe slammed one home. But to end the period and to give the Lighting the lead, Nikita Kucherov scored with just 2.6 seconds to go.

Despite the crazy second period, the third would only see one goal by Alex Killorn. That goal would eventually be the nail in the coffin for the Canucks. Despite a hard-fought second period the Canucks played weak and made a lot of mistakes in the third, leading to their loss.

ATS Trends

Vancouver is 14-22 straight up on the road this season

Vancouver is 13-18-5 against the over/under on the road this season

Tampa Bay is 19-13 straight up at home this season

Tampa Bay is 17-12-3 against the over/under at home this season

Injuries to Watch

Vancouver

03/13/14 C Ryan Kesler Knee out indefinitely
03/03/14 LW Daniel Sedin Hamstring out 3 weeks
01/23/14 C Mike Santorelli Shoulder out for season
01/11/14 D Andrew Alberts Concussion out indefinitely

Tampa Bay
10/12/13 D Brian Lee Knee out indefinitely

Tony's Pick: Take Vancouver

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