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Too little, too late as Canucks fall to Lightning

Vancouver Canucks v Tampa Bay Lightning

TAMPA, FL - MARCH 17: Steven Stamkos #91 and Ondrej Palat #18 of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrate a goal while Shawn Matthias #27 and Chris Tanev #8 of the Vancouver Canucks react at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on March 17, 2014 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images)

Mike Carlson

Close again, but the Vancouver Canucks suffered another loss to all but dash their playoff hopes.

The Canucks got two goals from Alex Burrows - he now has five goals in his last four games after going 35 games without - but still fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning by a final score of 4-3 on Monday.

Jannik Hansen scored short handed to get Vancouver to within a goal - twice in this game they trailed by three goals - but they couldn’t complete the comeback. The loss keeps them in the 10th spot in the Western Conference, three points back of the current eighth-place holders, the Dallas Stars. Dallas now has four games in hand on Vancouver.

It was another case of the Canucks not being able to finish their chances, and not being able to keep the puck out of their own net. The two goals they allowed in the second period went off Vancouver defenseman Ryan Stanton. Seconds before each of those goals, the Canucks had chances to score on Ben Bishop at the other end, but couldn’t.

The winning goal was also one goalie Eddie Lack would probably like to have back, as Tom Pyatt scored through the five-hole of Lack on a shot from a bad angle, giving Tampa Bay a 4-1 lead.

“We didn’t get points and we needed points. That’s it,” said Canucks head coach John Tortorella, as per the club’s Twitter account.

There was also no update on defenseman Chris Tanev, who left the game early in the second period.

He did not return to the game. In the first period, he blocked a pair of Steven Stamkos slap shot, although it’s not yet known if that’s what took him from the game.

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