Ducks rally before falling to Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime
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.