Tampa Bay Lightning F Ondrej Palat Lays Hard Hit On Brendan Smith (Video)

Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat laid an incredibly hard hit on Detroit Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith early in the first period of Game 5.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings have no love lost between them. In fact, over the course of the last couple of seasons, these two teams have quickly become one of the most heated rivalries in the Atlantic Division. It should come as no surprise that as the Lightning and Red Wings make their way through the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the tensions have spilled out onto the ice.

Tonight, in the early moments of the first period, the Tampa Bay Lightning brought some of that intensity and drove it deep into one of the Detroit Red Wings defensemen. The Red Wings were attempting to play the puck along the boards to the side of the net. Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith would attempt to move the puck forward. Unfortunately for Smith, there was someone in blue right on his tail.

Suddenly, before Smith had any chance to make a move, Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat laid a thunderous shoulder-to-shoulder hit that sent Brendan Smith flying into the boards. As you can imagine, this lit a bit of a spark under the Tampa Bay Lightning and their fans, which could be heard all the way in the rafters of the Amalie Arena.

We think it’s pretty safe to say Brendan Smith will be feeling that hit for a little while. It’s aggression and physical play like that shown by Ondrej Palat that has largely been missing from the Lightning’s game in seasons past. If the Lightning is able to continue laying the big hits and being aggressive with the puck, the Lightning should have little issue closing out this series against an already ailing Detroit Red Wings.

Of course, it’s never a good thing to count your chickens before they hatch. In other words, there is still plenty of hockey left to play between these Atlantic Division rivals tonight. The Tampa Bay Lightning has a golden opportunity to close out this series and move onto the next round. Of course, the Detroit Red Wings are going to have something to say about this.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning need their Thunder now more than ever. The Bolts look to every single one of us in the Bolts Nation for their strength and determination. It’s time to yell it from the rafters and let them feel you. Let them know we are right behind them as they take on the Red Wings tonight. In other words, it’s time to Be The Thunder!