Lightning gets Offensive with Florida

All Images by Travis Failey

Tampa, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning will score a lot of goals this year provided the forwards stay healthy.  Which if you are a Lightning fan you know staying healthy is not a given.  My first glance this morning at the forwards lines I thought… wow here is some offensive fire power, and that power was on display tonight.

With goals from four different forwards, the Lightning advance to 1-0 on the year and are on their way to NHL offensive supremacy.  I know what this must sound like, oh come on it’s one game.  But I have a great feeling Lightning fans are going to pleased to hear the horn and see the Tesla coils a lot as they celebrate their 25th anniversary.

With that being said, the defense got off to what I thought was a slow start.  Sloppy work in the D zone and giving up a lot of shots early,  but in bend but don’t break fashion and Andrei Vasielvskiy standing strong between the pipes, the Lightning took a 2-0 lead when Brayden Point scored unassisted just 25 seconds into the 2nd period.

The Lightning maintained the two-goal until 7:39 left in the 2nd when Panther Connor Brickley slam dunked a perfect pass from defenseman Alex Petrovic as he beat both Victor Hedman and Dan Girardi around the edge.  Petrovic fed the puck to the all alone on the doorstep Brickley.  Clearly a non-executed defensive breakdown by Hedman and Girardi.

The Panthers erased the lead in a little more than five minutes later when Mark Pysyk found the back of the net with Lightning defenseman Andre Sustr on his knees (nothing being said about a defensive breakdown here) and suddenly the raucous home town fans became a little subdued.  But remember fans, this team will score this year.

Vlad with the Go-Ahead Goal

In the third, talk about Russia collusion, Vlad Namestnikov on the power play and then and then Nikita Kucherov gave the Lightning that two goal lead back.  It was a true goalscorer’s goal as Kucherov eyed an open left side of the goal and laser-ed a wrister as Roberto Luongo was screened on the play.

There was no quit in the Panthers as Jonathan Huberdeau cut the lead in half with 5:30 left to go but Andrei Vasielvskiy held the crease strong and Palat added an empty netter to preserve the victory.

Palat bookended the night as Palat scored the first Lightning goal 6:33 into the game as raced into the offensive zone with Brayden Point.  A neat pass to Point as Point redirected the puck ahead off the shaft of his stick allowing Palat to race past Panther blue liner Aaron Ekblad to score on Roberto Luongo.

A big key tonight was the 4 for 4 Lightning penalty kill led by forwards Cedric Paquette, Alex Killorn and last but definitely not least Ryan Callahan.  Callahan was a force all night and a difference-maker on the kill.

Up next  for the Bolts? A quick plane ride tonight down to South Florida to take on Panthers in Sunrise.  The puck drops at 7:00 pm.

1st Period Summary
Time	Team	Scoring Detail	FLA	TB
6:33		Ondrej Palat (1) Assists: Brayden Point, Victor Hedman	0	1
Time	Team	Penalty Detail
8:25		Andrej Sustr: 2 Minutes for Slashing
14:35		Nikita Kucherov: 2 Minutes for Slashing
2nd Period Summary
Time	Team	Scoring Detail	FLA	TB
0:25		Brayden Point (1) Unassisted	0	2
12:21		Connor Brickley (1) Assist: Alex Petrovic	1	2
17:47		Mark Pysyk (1) Assists: Radim Vrbata, Vincent Trocheck	2	2
Time	Team	Penalty Detail
0:47		Jamie McGinn: 2 Minutes for Slashing
5:03		Mikhail Sergachev: 2 Minutes for Hooking
13:33		Colton Sceviour: 2 Minutes for Slashing
19:40		Aaron Ekblad: 2 Minutes for Slashing
3rd Period Summary
Time	Team	Scoring Detail	FLA	TB
0:59		Vladislav Namestnikov (1) (Power Play) Assists: Steven Stamkos, Alex Killorn	2	3
6:38		Nikita Kucherov (1) Unassisted	2	4
14:30		Jonathan Huberdeau (1) Assists: Evgeni Dadonov, Keith Yandle	3	4
19:46		Ondrej Palat (2) Assist: Brayden Point	3	5
Time	Team	Penalty Detail
16:49		Victor Hedman: 2 Minutes for Slashing