Roberto Luongo was back in the lineup Thursday night, but he couldn't get the Vancouver Canucks back in the win column.
Luongo surrendered four goals on 27 shots as the Canucks lost 4-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum.
Vincent Lecavalier scores on Robert Luongo in a 4-3 Lightning triumph.
(Steve Nesius/Associated Press)
Luongo received permission from team management to spend a few days in Florida with his pregnant wife, and skip Tuesday's 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars.
Curtis Sanford started Tuesday, only to yield three goals on 12 shots before being yanked in favour of rookie Drew MacIntyre.
"I'm going to control what I can control and not be worried about anything else," Luongo said.
Brad Richards led the Lightning (21-26-5) with one goal and two assists.
"The game was dictated by the physical play," he said. "They really wanted to get under our skin.
"We had to answer. I think we not only answered physically, but we answered by coming back in the game — twice."
Vaclav Prospal, Chris Gratton and Vincent Lecavalier had the other goals, while Martin St. Louis provided three assists.
"It didn't bother us when they scored a couple goals in the first [period]," said Lightning rookie goaltender Karri Ramo, who made 23 saves.
"We bounced back right away. The second period, I think was the best while I have been here."
Tampa Bay hadn't beaten Vancouver in seven meetings, dating back to Oct. 25, 1998.
Taylor Pyatt had a goal and an assist for the Canucks (26-21-5), who have dropped six of their last seven games (1-5-1).
Luc Bourdon opened the scoring on Vancouver's first shot, while Alex Edler had a short-handed goal with 25 seconds remaining.
Kevin Bieksa (calf), Lukas Krajicek (shoulder), Willie Mitchell (back) and Sami Salo (groin) sat out with injuries.
"We're not going to use excuses," Luongo said. "We have had injuries before and we have had guys step up."
"It is a fine line between a win and a loss," said Canucks forward Alex Burrows, who had two assists.
"We have got to make sure that we bounce back. We just have to keep competing and working hard."
