Stamkos leads streaking Bolts past Anaheim

The more the Lightning lose, the more they seem to gain.

For the third consecutive game, Tampa Bay traded a player off the roster. And for the third consecutive game, a victory ensued.

On Tuesday, Steve Downie was moved hours before the Lightning went out and defeated the Anaheim Ducks, 3-2, in front of an announced Forum crowd of 18,309.

Steven Stamkos scored twice and added an assist, while Teddy Purcell had a goal and tied a career high with three points. Mathieu Garon, who stopped 28 shots, including all 11 in the third period, picked up the victory.

The Lightning, 10 points out of a playoff spot last week, have cut that deficit in half, trailing the Southeast Division lead as well as the eighth spot in the conference by five points with 23 games to play. Tampa Bay moved above the .500 mark (27-26-6) for the first time since Nov. 28.

In addition to the trade, the Lightning learned before the game that captain Vinny Lecavalier is out indefinitely with a non-displaced fracture in his right hand.

"It's been a tough couple of weeks to see not only your teammates, but your buddies go,'' Purcell said. "It was kind of an awkward mood in here before the game but Marty (St. Louis) did a real good job of leadership and kind of rallying the troops. The message was that we were still just six points out (of the playoffs before the game) and just because guys are leaving we are not going to give up in here. We are going to keep fighting and clawing our way back and we wanted to make sure we came out with a real good start.''

Tampa Bay couldn't ask for a better way to get things going than seeing league-leading goal scorer Stamkos race in on a breakaway before he was hooked from behind by Cam Fowler on what could have been called a penalty shot 22 seconds into the game. Instead, it resulted in a power-play opportunity in which it took just 6 seconds for the Lightning to cash in as Stamkos popped in a rebound 28 seconds into the game.

It was Stamkos again notching his second of the game and 42nd of the season late in the period. A Brett Clark shot caromed off the end boards in front to Stamkos, who buried the puck with 2:02 left to increase the lead to two goals.

Anaheim scored on a Saku Koivu goal 40 seconds into the second period, but Purcell answered back as he stickhandled into the slot area before getting a backhander past Jonas Hiller at 2:40 for the eventual winning goal.

"This was a tough day for a lot of us, coming to the rink and finding (Downie had been traded). He's been a warrior for this team and he's going to be missed,'' St. Louis said. "But I thought tonight we battled hard and tried to close the homestand out. Everybody battled and we got a gutsy win. ... We have to worry about things that we can control in here and we are trying to manage.''

Before the game, head coach Guy Boucher said the team had to push back the timing on many of the pregame meetings and preparations to allow the team to say goodbye to Downie, a popular player in the room since arriving in 2008 from Philadelphia.

"We had to let them mourn before the task ... and I tried to let them pay their respects to the man, the friend and the player that he was here and everything that he has given us,'' Boucher said.

"And for us right now, it's just keep on pushing and finding ways with the players that have been brought up and find ways.

"That's what we've been doing for a while and I think we take pride in this. We did it under difficult circumstances.''