Darren Raddysh scored midway through overtime, and the Tampa Bay Lightning blew three one-goal leads before beating the Ducks 4-3 on Wednesday for their fifth consecutive victory.
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper celebrated his 1,000th regular-season game in charge with his 595th victory as the longest-tenured bench boss in the NHL. The Lightning’s coach since March 2013 has also led them in 155 playoff games, won two championships and reached four Stanley Cup Finals.
Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist as the Lightning skated off with a win in the opener of their three-game California trip when Raddysh converted a pass from Brandon Hagel, who had three assists.
J.J. Moser and Brayden Point also scored for Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves.
Mason McTavish tied it on a power play with 6:58 left in regulation for the Ducks, who have lost four straight and eight of 10. Jansen Harkins and Beckett Sennecke also scored, and Lukas Dostal stopped 24 shots as the Ducks earned a point for only the second time in six games.
Moser opened the scoring in the first period with his first goal since agreeing to an eight-year, $54-million contract extension last weekend.
The Ducks scored their first two goals off turnovers, with the 19-year-old Sennecke getting the 12th of his rookie season early in the third period.
Kucherov scored his 18th goal on a cross-ice pass from Hagel during a power play four minutes later, but the Ducks evened it again when Pavel Mintyukov made an exceptional play at the blue line to set up McTavish for his 10th goal.
The Ducks announced during the game that forward Frank Vatrano will be out for about six weeks with a broken shoulder incurred in a loss to the Kings last Saturday.
Up next for the Ducks: vs. Minnesota at Honda Center on Friday.
The Rams were on the verge of enduring a quick turnaround, a distracting Puka Nacua controversy, and a flight delay but they could not hold onto the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold’s two-point conversion pass to tight end Eric Saubert sent the Rams to a 38-37 overtime defeat on Thursday night before 68,853 at Lumen Field.
After Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford connected with Nacua for a 41-yard touchdown pass, Darnold’s four-yard touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba pulled the Seahawks to within two points.
Darnold finished the Rams with the pass to Saubert.
The loss dropped the Rams record to 11-4, knocked them out of first place in the NFC West and put a major roadblock in their pursuit of home-field advantage for the playoffs.
The division race remains tight, with the Seahawks (12-3) now in first place and the San Francisco 49ers (10-4) still in the mix.
The Rams conclude the season with a Monday night game against the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta and a home game against the Arizona Cardinals.
The Seahawks finish with road games at Carolina and San Francisco.
The 49ers play the Colts at Indianapolis and then home games against the Chicago Bears and the Seahawks.
Stafford completed 29 of 49 passes for 457 yards and three touchdowns. Nacua caught 12 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns. Kam Curl, Josh Wallace and Kobie Turner forced turnovers for the Rams, but it wasn’t enough
The Rams, who clinched a playoff spot last Sunday with a victory over the Detroit Lions, played Thursday without injured star receiver Davante Adams.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford passes during the second half against the Seahawks on Thursday night.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
Nacua, rookie Konata Mumpfield and Xavier Smith tried to make up the difference.
Nacua entered the game mired in controversy after making critical comments about referees and performing an antisemetic gesture during a livestream. The third-year receiver apologized in an Instagram post Thursday, and the Rams and NFL released statements denouncing the gesture.
“Coach has just echoed that he’s always in continuous support of me, disappointed in some of the actions that just distracted my teammates and that’s something that I know I’ll learn from,” said Nacua, who eclipsed 180 yards receiving for the third game in a row. “And I don’t want to be a distraction in any week, especially in a short week, so we had talked about that and he’s right there behind me.”
Turner, linebacker Nate Landman and defensive tackle Poona Ford had sacks for the Rams.
The Rams led 13-7 at halftime on Stafford’s short touchdown pass to rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson and the first two of Harrison Mevis’ three field goals.
Near the end of the second quarter, Curl forced former Rams receiver Cooper Kupp to fumble the ball out of the end zone for a touchback, preserving the lead.
Early in the third quarter, Kenneth Walker III scored on a long touchdown run for the Seahawks, but Mevis’ third field goal put the Rams back in front, 16-14.
On the ensuing possession, Wallace picked off a pass for his first career interception and returned it 56 yards to set up Blake Corum’s one-yard touchdown run for a 23-14 lead.
The Rams scored early in the fourth quarter when Nacua broke free for a 58-yard reception, and Nacua then scored on a short pass for a 30-14 lead. Turner’s first career interception on Seattle’s ensuing possession seemingly sealed the victory.
But Rashid Shaheed returned a punt 58 yards for a touchdown and Kupp caught a two-point conversion pass to pull the Seahawks to within eight points with about eight minutes left.
Darnold’s 26-yard touchdown pass to tight end A.J. Barner pulled the Seahawks even, and after it appeared that a two-point conversion pass failed, officials ruled that Darnold’s pass was behind the line of scrimmage when it tipped off Jared Verse and was recovered in the end zone by Zach Charbonnet for two points, tying the score.
The Rams had a chance to take the lead with just over two minutes left, but Mevis missed a 48-yard, field-goal attempt, his first miss of the season.
Zach Werenski scored twice and added an assist in his 600th NHL game, Boone Jenner had a goal and an assist, and Kent Johnson added two assists. Jet Greaves stopped 24 shots for his first win since Nov. 20.
Mikael Granlund had a goal and an assist, Ryan Strome and Jackson LaCombe also scored goals, and Ryan Poehling recorded two assists for the Ducks. Ville Husso made 24 saves as the Ducks dropped three games on their five-city trip.
Werenski gave Columbus an early lead at 8:21 of the first period, burying a feed from Jenner to extend his home point streak to 11 games.
Strome pulled the Ducks even with a wrister from the crease at 3:35 of the second period, but Columbus responded with two goals in a 43-second span. Werenski put the Blue Jackets back on top before Jenner backhanded in the rebound of an Ivan Provorov shot just 19 seconds later to make it 3–1.
After Granlund pulled the Ducks within a goal at 5:29, LaCombe tied the score with 3:16 left in the third. Fantilli then ended it in overtime with a wrister from the right circle.
The win was Columbus’ first over the Ducks in Nationwide Arena since Dec. 1, 2017.
