The Backcheck: A split in SoCal

What a difference a day can make.
After a disappointing finish to Tuesday's 4-2 loss against the Los Angeles Kings, the Tampa Bay Lightning responded with a big 4-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night at Honda Center.

Going back to the start of the 2021-22 season, Tampa Bay has now recorded at least one win in 14-of-15 back-to-back sets and earned at least one point in all 15 of those back-to-backs.
"It's a tough league to win in," said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. "I don't care who you're playing against. You're going on the road a couple time zones away. You've got to grind out points.
"The game's in the balance. It's tied in the third period. You've got to find a way to get points out of it and we did."
The Bolts started Wednesday night with one of the strongest periods of the season, holding the Ducks to just four shots on goal through the opening 20 minutes. Anaheim was still able to open the scoring with 5:35 remaining in the first off a heavy one-timer from Trevor Zegras, but the Lightning were quick to respond when Mikhail Sergachev fired a quick wrist shot that got past a screened John Gibson just 2:53 after the Zegras goal.
Tampa Bay gained momentum from the Sergachev goal and took the lead only 1:26 later when Nikita Kucherov rifled a one-timer off a beautiful cross-zone feed from Victor Hedman right through the wickets of Gibson to put the Bolts up by one.
Sergachev, Kucherov and Hedman have been filling the stat sheet for Tampa Bay as of late.

Sergachev recorded his second multi-point game of the season on Wednesday and extended his point streak to four games with one goal and four assists for five points during that span.
Kucherov continues to put up points and extended his point streak to six games. He has two goals and eight assists for 10 points during that span and has recorded at least one point in seven of the Lightning's eight games this season. His nine assists are tied for the NHL lead while his 11 points are just one point shy of tying the league lead.
Then there's Hedman, who picked up his first multi-point game of the season and has recorded at least one point in six of eight games this year. Hedman is tied with Cale Makar for the most assists by a defenseman this season with seven.
After carrying play for the majority of the second period, the Lightning lost the lead when a turnover in the defensive zone resulted in Troy Terry scoring his fourth goal of the season to tie the game at two with 3:21 left in the middle frame.
Following a strong start against the Kings on Tuesday, Tampa Bay fell behind and got away from the things that were making the team successful, resulting in a loss.
"It's easily a winnable game halfway through," said Cooper following Tuesday's loss. "We kind of got away from our plan and it cost us."
Heading into the third period on Wednesday, the Lightning were facing some similar adversity. It looked like the Bolts were going to start the third with the lead, but instead the score was even. This time around, Tampa Bay showed no panic, stuck to the process and the results paid off.
With 4:27 left in regulation, Brandon Hagel scored a goal for the third-straight game to give his team a 3-2 lead before Nick Paul sealed it with an empty-net goal at the 19:58 mark.
"It felt good," said Hagel when asked about his game-winning goal. "I don't think I've had a game-winner in a while, so to get one now feels pretty good.
"I think, for the majority of it, we stuck with the process and came away with the win tonight. Huge two points. Move on now."

The three-game goal streak matches a career high for Hagel, who has looked really strong skating on a line with Kucherov and Brayden Point. Hagel has been extremely effective using his speed on the forecheck to force turnovers in the offensive zone and create some really good scoring chances.
Tampa Bay's first two periods were very strong, but Anaheim's biggest push came in the third and final frame. The Ducks got a power play near the halfway point of the period and nearly took a 3-2 lead, but Brian Elliott made a phenomenal save on Zegras with a variation of the classic two-pad stack.
From there, the Lightning regained some momentum and really started to push before Hagel eventually scored the game-winning goal.
"I'm not sure if they had a camera on our bench, but everybody jumped up when he made that save," Cooper said. "We had that view. There was a lot of net there when that pass got made and he did the old '70s two-pad stack, but we'll take it.
"The big thing about goaltenders is you have to make the timely save. When the game's on the line, it doesn't matter if the game is 2-2 or 6-6. Are you going to make the save that's going to keep it tied? Moose did that tonight and the boys carried it the rest of the way home."
Elliott made 19 saves for Tampa Bay in his second win of the season.
Along with some timely saves and big-time goals were a couple of firsts for the Lightning on Wednesday. Philippe Myers earned his first point with Tampa Bay with the secondary assist on Kucherov's goal and Nick Perbix recorded his first career NHL point with the secondary helper on Sergachev's game-tying tally in the first period.
Perbix finished the game with 16:59 worth of ice time and continues to look like a solid option on the right side for Tampa Bay. He's gotten better with each passing game and the rising comfort level on the ice is visible. Perbix has shown strong puck poise, decision-making, gap control and more.
"I'm just trying to take it day by day," Perbix said. "It's a little unexpected if I'm being honest, but I'm just trying to enjoy the moment and make the most of it."

It's still early, but Cooper has been impressed with the play of the rookie defenseman.
"As tough as this league is to win in, it's really tough to play defense in," Cooper said. "For him to step in and have just a couple of games of pro under his belt - he's improving. That's the big thing.
"You don't want somebody to shy away from the limelight and he seems to be getting better with every shift he's taking. I thought he took some great strides tonight. His puck poise was excellent.
"He's going to learn. He's by no means perfect right now, but he's improving and it's good for him and good for our organization."
After recording a goal and an assist against the Islanders on Saturday, Paul finished Wednesday night with one goal and one assist for his second multi-point game of the season. Ross Colton also found the scoresheet with one assist, his third of the season.
"We checked a lot of boxes tonight, now we've just got to carry that into San Jose in a couple of days," Cooper said.
The Bolts will look to ride the positive momentum when the team wraps up the three-game road trip in San Jose on Saturday. Puck drop is set for 4:30 p.m. ET.