Lightning Bitten By Sharks

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Photo Gallery Game Highlights Stamkos Deflects One In Next game: Flyers visit Thursday

Road Trip Concludes With Winning Record

The Tampa Bay Lightning concluded their road trip tonight in San Jose, losing to the NHL’s best team, 7-1.

By the time the first period came to a close, there was little doubt as to why the Sharks are undefeated in regulation at home this season, as San Jose dominated the Lightning, outscoring Tampa Bay 2-0 and out shooting them, 17-8.

The Sharks broke on top at 2:17 as Devon Setoguchi wristed a shot past Karri Ramo, starting in net for Tampa Bay. The score came off a feed from Joe Thornton, stationed behind the net with the puck.

With Jeff Halpern off for roughing and Vladimir Mihalik beside him in the penalty box for tripping, San Jose converted the two-man advantage at 5:41 as Thornton centered the puck and it bounced off a Lightning stick and past Ramo into the net.

With the 2-0 advantage, San Jose foiled almost every Lightning rush and turned the visitors back time after time in the neutral zone.

Lightning rookie Steven Stamkos gave the Bolts reason to hope when he opened the scoring in the second period at 7:47. Stamkos notched his fifth goal of the season when he tipped a pass from Mark Recchi past San Jose netminder Evgeni Nabokov. Evgeny Artyukhin also assisted on the goal.

The score of 2-1 was as close as the Lightning would get as the Sharks dominated the remainder of the period, putting the game out of reach with three goals, including two power play scores.

The Sharks wrapped up the scoring for the evening with just over two minutes gone in period three. By that point they had tagged on another two scores to make their advantage 7-1.

By that point, the Lightning seemed to turn their attention home, which is where they headed immediately following the conclusion of the contest.

For the record, Tampa Bay posts a 3-2-0 record for the five-game western road swing and can now unpack and settle in at the St. Pete Times Forum, the site of their next four games. The Lightning will open the home stand by hosting the Philadelphia Flyers on January 15th, followed closely by visits from Florida, Dallas and Buffalo before the All-Star break shuts down the action, beginning January 22nd.