Lightning Do Not Come Up Short

Vasilevskiy kept the Lightning always having a chance to win tonight (TRAVIS FAILEY PHOTO)

The first 50 minutes of play of  the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Julien BriseBois GM era looked sluggish.  But the Tampa Bay Lightning in spite of being out-played most of the contest did not come up short on getting two points.  An Anthony Cirelli shorty and solid goal-tending covered the deficiencies.

Jacob MacDonald goes top shelf to put the Panthers up 1-0. (Photo-Travis Failey)

The Panthers who out-shot the Bolts 43-29, took an early lead when Jacob MacDonald scored courtesy of a nice Vincent Trocheck feed.  MacDonald, a cerebral player (Cornell), beat Andrei Vasilevskiy on MacDonald’s first NHL shot.

(Photo-Travis Failey)

The Lightning, looking sluggish at times were kept in the game by Vasilevskiy who came up with 42 saves many of them at opportune times when the Panthers had chances to put the slow skating Lightning away.  But like I say, good teams win games they shouldn’t and bad teams lose games they should win.  This was clearly a game the Lightning should have well maybe could have lost… but the opponent was Florida.

(Photo-Travis Failey)

(Photo-Travis Failey)

Chances of another opening night win got a lot better when with a little more than halfway through the third, Anthony Cirelli slammed dunked the proverbial biscuit into the proverbial basket to tie the game to the delight of the now delirious sell out crowd at the Oil Can.  Cirelli gathered his own rebound at the doorstep and buried it Michael Jordan style.

(Photo-Travis Failey)

The Panthers and the Lightning finished the last 1/6 of regulation at a stalemate.   The overtime was… I guess semi-excited, but it went the whole five minutes.

(Photo-Travis Failey)

JT Miller and then Nikita Kucherov notched shoot-out goals and the Lightning collect the extra point.

(Photo-Travis Failey)

The Lightning open the season with home cooking with the next four being at the Oil Can.  Next up Canadian left coast opponent the Canucks on the 11th.

(Photo-Travis Failey)

(Photo-Travis Failey)

More Pics and Stats:

(Photo-Travis Failey)

(Photo-Travis Failey)

(Photo-Travis Failey)

(Photo-Travis Failey)

(Photo-Travis Failey)

(Photo-Travis Failey)

(Photo-Travis Failey)

Florida Panthers

FORWARDS A. Barkov C N. Bjugstad C T. Brouwer RW E. Dadonov RW M. Hoffman LW J. Huberdeau C D. MacKenzie C D. Malgin C J. McCann C C. Sceviour C V. Trocheck C F. Vatrano C DEFENSEMEN A. Ekblad D J. MacDonald D M. Matheson D A. Petrovic D M. Pysyk D K. Yandle D

TIME ON ICE FACEOFFS G A +/- S SM BS PN PIM HT TK GV SHFT TOI PPTOI SHTOI ESTOI FW FL % 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 33 23:42 4:55 2:48 15:59 10 10 50.0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 26 17:29 3:24 0:00 14:05 5 2 71.4 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 13 9:25 0:34 0:04 8:47 0 0 0.0 0 0 -1 6 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 29 19:40 4:06 0:00 15:34 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 27 19:32 5:47 0:09 13:36 0 0 0.0 0 1 0 3 2 1 1 2 0 0 1 26 18:24 5:47 0:00 12:37 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2:43 0:00 0:00 2:43 2 1 66.7 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 16:11 3:02 1:11 11:58 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 26 16:09 0:34 2:08 13:27 3 5 37.5 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 17 11:55 0:34 2:53 8:28 0 0 0.0 0 1 0 3 1 3 1 2 1 0 1 34 24:26 5:25 1:42 17:19 10 8 55.6 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 19 13:23 2:55 0:00 10:28 0 0 0.0 G A +/- S SM BS PN PIM HT TK GV SHFT TOI PPTOI SHTOI ESTOI FW FL % 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 4 1 1 35 24:33 3:09 2:22 19:02 0 0 0.0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 15 10:28 1:20 0:00 9:08 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 2 1 32 25:27 0:55 2:24 22:08 0 0 0.0 0 0 1 3 0 3 0 0 5 0 0 19 12:59 0:08 1:07 11:44 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 2 0 31 18:16 0:25 2:56 14:55 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 4 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 37 24:27 3:55 1:57 18:35 0 0 0.0

GOALIES J. Reimer G R. Luongo G

SA GA SV SV% ESSV PPSV SHSV SOSA SOS TOI PIM 16 1 15 .938 12 2 1 0 0 32:30 0 13 0 13 1.000 10 0 3 0 0 32:21 0

* – A player receives a “plus” if he is on the ice when his Club scores an even-strength or shorthand goal. He receives a “minus” if he is on the ice for an even-strength or shorthand goal scored by the opposing Club. The difference in these numbers is considered the player’s plus-minus statistic.

Tampa Bay Lightning

FORWARDS A. Cirelli C C. Conacher LW A. Erne LW Y. Gourde LW M. Joseph RW A. Killorn C N. Kucherov RW J.T. Miller C O. Palat LW C. Paquette C B. Point C S. Stamkos C DEFENSEMEN B. Coburn D D. Girardi D V. Hedman D R. McDonagh D M. Sergachev D A. Stralman D

TIME ON ICE FACEOFFS G A +/- S SM BS PN PIM HT TK GV SHFT TOI PPTOI SHTOI ESTOI FW FL % 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 26 15:15 0:16 3:58 11:01 8 6 57.1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 13 8:35 0:09 0:00 8:26 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 11 8:32 0:00 0:00 8:32 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 16:25 0:50 1:42 13:53 4 4 50.0 0 0 -1 2 1 0 0 0 3 1 1 21 13:50 1:06 2:41 10:03 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 5 0 0 24 14:24 0:56 3:32 9:56 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 2 23 21:52 4:27 0:00 17:25 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 4 3 0 2 23 18:42 4:08 0:16 14:18 5 2 71.4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 1 0 23 16:31 0:50 1:58 13:43 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 1 0 11 5:54 0:00 1:44 4:10 2 4 33.3 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 28 24:58 4:17 2:53 17:48 3 9 25.0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 4 0 2 23 19:56 4:08 0:02 15:46 5 5 50.0 G A +/- S SM BS PN PIM HT TK GV SHFT TOI PPTOI SHTOI ESTOI FW FL % 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 2 0 0 0 18 14:55 0:00 0:02 14:53 0 0 0.0 0 0 -1 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 23 16:52 0:00 2:44 14:08 0 0 0.0 0 0 -1 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 28 24:48 4:28 3:17 17:03 0 0 0.0 0 1 1 5 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 30 25:31 1:04 6:04 18:23 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 2 0 2 17 14:45 0:00 0:38 14:07 0 0 0.0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 5 2 0 30 23:15 0:16 6:01 16:58 0 0 0.0

GOALIES A. Vasilevskiy G L. Domingue G

SA GA SV SV% ESSV PPSV SHSV SOSA SOS TOI PIM 43 1 42 .977 28 2 12 0 0 65:00 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0:00 0

* – A player receives a “plus” if he is on the ice when his Club scores an even-strength or shorthand goal. He receives a “minus” if he is on the ice for an even-strength or shorthand goal scored by the opposing Club. The difference in these numbers is considered the player’s plus-minus statistic.

1ST PERIOD 5:58 Jacob MacDonald (1) Assists: Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck 1 0

2ND PERIOD No Goals Scored

3RD PERIOD 10:45 Anthony Cirelli (1) (Shorthanded) Assists: Ryan McDonagh 1 1

OT SUMMARY No Goals Scored

SHOOTOUT SUMMARY Shootout GOAL scored by J.T. Miller on James Reimer 0 1 Shootout attempt by Mike Hoffman MISSES 0 1 Shootout attempt by Brayden Point saved by James Reimer 0 1 Shootout attempt by Aleksander Barkov saved by Andrei Vasilevskiy 0 1 Shootout GOAL scored by Nikita Kucherov on James Reimer 0 2