Lightning’s Late Heroics Glove a Victory on a Special Night

It was a special night on the bright stage of NBC Sports with real American heroes and the iconic Doc Emrick on the call. With stage set the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Pittsburgh Penguins put on a show that was worthy.

But before the Lightning and Penguins even went on stage, the real stars took center ice.  It was a bigger event than the game, as the Lightning hosted 46 of the 70 living recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor in a pregame ceremony.

The Lightning fell behind 2-1 after two periods but played inspired hockey in the third. With the real American heroes in attendance the Lightning did not disappoint as the game finished in dramatic fashion until the final horn.

It took the full 60 minutes to decide a winner as the Penguins made an attempt to tie the game as time in regulation expired. Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy snared a laser shot with his trapper as time ran out. Although it was not immediate gratification as the decision defaulted to the oh so fun instant replay. “The puck did not cross the goal line,” which sent the home crowd into victorious jubilation. 3-2 final.

As it looked like overtime was imminent with just 2:05 remaining As Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel took a hooking penalty which set up the Lightning to pounce.

A pretty power-play goal on a one-timer off the stick of Victor Hedman and the Lightning took a 3-2 lead. A hold in by Tyler Johnson and neat passing between Johnson and Steven Stamkos set up Hedman for the one-time blast from the point which went by Pens net-minder Tristan Jarry aided by an Ondrej Palat jumping screen.

The Penguins with the extra skater would not go quietly into the Tampa night as Andrei Vasilevskiy had to make a somewhat remarkable glove save as time expired.

The Lightning got on the board in the first when Alex Killorn deflected a Nikita Kucherov shot between the legs of Tristan Jarry for the early 1-0 lead which the Lightning took to the first intermission.

The Penguins got two goals in the second 20 minutes for a 2-1 lead which would make for an outstanding third period.

The Lightning tied the game by the fourth line grinding when on the fore-check Luke Witkowski came up with a loose puck below the goal. Witkowski delivered a nice feed to Ryan McDonagh as Witkowski was leveled by Jack Johnson. McDonagh put the puck towards the net and it was deflected into the cage by Ondrej Palat.

The dramatic victory gave the Lightning their 10th and 11th points pushing their record to 5-3-1 on the season.

The Lightning stay home to host Nashville Saturday Night.