ANAHEIM — Mikhail Sergachev and Nicholas Paul each had a goal and an assist for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 4-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Wednesday.
Brandon Hagel scored for the third straight game, Victor Hedman had two assists, and Brian Elliott made 19 saves for the Lightning (4-4-0), who lost 4-2 at the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
“This is a tough league to win in, and I don’t care who you’re playing against,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “You’re going on the road, a couple time zones away, you’ve got to grind out points.”
Troy Terry had a goal and an assist, and John Gibson made 26 saves for the Ducks (1-5-1), who have lost six in a row.
“It’s more frustrating now than the last couple [losses] Because I think that game could have gone either way,” Terry said.
Video: TBL@ANA: Hagel scores PPG in 3rd period
Trevor Zegras was called for high sticking Pat Maroon at 13:57 of the third, and Hagel scored with a wrist shot from above the left face-off circle at 15:33 for a 3-2 lead.
“I don’t think I’ve had a game-winner in a while,” Hagel said. “To get one now feels pretty good.”
Paul scored into an empty net with two seconds left for the 4-2 final.
“The game’s in the balance, it’s tied in the third period,” Cooper said. “You have to find a way to get points out of it, and we did, so we’ll take it.”
Video: TBL@ANA: Zegras scores first in 1st period
Zegras scored on a one-timer from a pass off the right circle Dmitry Kulikov for a 1-0 lead at 14:25 of the first period.
The Lightning scored twice in the final three minutes of the first to take a 2-1 lead. Sergachev scored with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle to tie it 1-1 at 17:18, and Nikita Kucherov scored on a one-timer near the right dot to make it 2-1 at 18:44.
“That’s an elite team,” Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. “They’re multiple champions for a reason and they don’t need you to make five mistakes to score at all. They just need you to make one.”
Video: TBL@ANA: Kucherov slaps one home
Terry tied it 2-2 at 16:39 of the second period when he stole the puck from a defenseman. Philippe Myers in the Ducks zone, skated into the slot and scored with a wrist shot.
“There were a couple breakdowns,” Cooper said. “Unfortunate goal, the second one to tie it up, but now you’ve got to regroup.”
Zegras had an open net during a 50-second power play for the Ducks in the third period, but Elliott slid over to make the save and keep the score tied.
“Everybody jumped up when he made that save,” Cooper said. “We had that view and there was a lot of net there when that pass got made. He did the old 70’s two-pad stack, and we’ll take it.”
Eakins said it was difficult coming up with some positives.
“I thought we stayed resilient throughout the game,” he said. “When we got down, I didn’t see a whole lot of heads dragging on the bench waiting for the next one to come. Guys were up on the bench. They stuck together through it. I thought we were fairly good in our own zone again. I still think we can play just a much more efficient game with the puck. We still tend to complicate things through the neutral zone.”
Video: TBL@ANA: Terry steals puck, buries game-tying goal
NOTES: Tampa Bay has won five of the past six against the Ducks and six of the past eight in Anaheim. … Lightning defenseman Nick Perbix assisted on Sergachev’s goal for his first NHL point in his fifth game. … Kucherov extended his point streak to six games (nine points; two goals, seven assists). … Kulikov’s assist was his 200th NHL point. …Forward Jakob Silfverberg played his 616th game to tie Steve Rucchin for fifth in Ducks history. … Zegras has scored in the first two home games this season, one short of the Anaheim record held by Corey Perry (2010-11) and Oleg Tverdovsky (1999-00).
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