Phoenix's Paul Bissonnette (right) (AP Photo/Matt York)
Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Mike Smith was just too much for the Phoenix Coyotes tonight.
Smith made 30 saves on 31 shots to lead his team to a 3-1 victory over the Coyotes Monday night at Jobing.com Arena.
The Lightning got the scoring started when Vincent Lecavalier scored his third goal of the season at the 5:59 mark for the first period to give his team the 1-0 lead. Tampa Bay followed that up with Alex Tanguay’s fourth goal of the year at the 14:44 mark with a 5-on-3 advantage to put the Bolts up by a pair.
The Coyotes cut into the lead with 40 seconds left in the first when Adrian Aucoin scored his third goal of the season, with assists from Sami Lepisto and Scottie Upshall, to cut the Lightning lead down to 2-1.
Tampa again scored, this time it was Martin St. Louis with his fourth goal of the year with 15:30 left in the second to put his team back up by two.
The Lightning put the game away with Lecavalier scored his second of the night at the 11:46 mark of the third period to put the game away at 4-1.
Jason LaBarbera got the start for Phoenix and stopped 15 of 19 shots in the losing effort.
NOTES: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was in attendance at the game tonight and updated the media on progress of finding a new owner for the Coyotes… Coyotes Forward Kevin Porter was called up for tonight’s game and saw 10:41 of ice time.
Quote of the game
“Smitty [Lightning goaltender Mike Smith] really kept us in the game, when it was 1-0, he made some big saves all throughout the game. They had good chances and he really came through for us.”- Lightning forward Vincent Lecavalier on the play of Mike Smith
Anthony’s three stars
1. Mike Smith (30 saves on 31 shots)
2. Adrian Aucoin (goal, blocked shot)
3. Scottie Upshall (assist, four shots, three hits)
Final thoughts
Mike Smith was certainly the story of the night. The Coyotes had excellent chances to really make it a close game in the second period but Smith robbed the Coyotes offense on a couple different occasions.
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