Tampa Bay Lightning Tie The Series At 2: Game Analysis

 As the final minute of Game 4 approached, the Tampa Bay Lightning had to suppress an oncoming surge from the Pittsburgh Penguins in order to maintain its tight 4-3 lead.

The Tampa Bay Lightning jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead early in the first period and continued to build on its lead thanks to Ryan Callahan’s opening tally 27 seconds in. Andrej Sustr, Jonathan Drouin, and Tyler Johnson each contributed a goal in the Lightning’s 4-3 victory on Friday night.

However, despite blowing open the game with four goals heading into the second intermission, the Lightning allowed three third period goals and created some added pressure in the final minutes of the game, as the Penguins continued to push for that extra goal. The team held strong and tied the series up at two games a piece.

Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final was definitely not smooth sailing and Game 5 on Sunday should be an interesting match up once the game is underway. Let’s take a look at some of the goals and enhanced statistics to go along with them.

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In the opening minute of the first period, the Lightning established a strong forecheck in the Penguins zone, as forwards Ryan Callahan and J.T. Brown battled down low to recover the puck. Brown managed to get the puck behind the net and that’s where the battle began. After Callahan knocked the puck from Trevor Daley‘s stick, Brown loosened it from Chris Kunitz, who regained possession of it at the time.

After battling down low, Brown got the puck up the boards to Victor Hedman, who was waiting at the blue line. From there, Hedman shot the puck towards the net and Callahan tipped it in to open the scoring, the building erupting in the process. That’s just what they needed to do early on in order to build some momentum.

And that momentum from the first goal carried on, for the most part, through the first and second periods. The Lightning would go onto score three more goals before the buzzer sounded for the second intermission.

Sustr took a cross-feed pass from Nikita Kucherov and lifted the puck over Matt Murray‘s glove to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead late in the first. The second goal resulted from a clean break in the forecheck in their own zone and that allowed Alex Killorn to enter the offensive zone and deliver a quick backhand pass to Kucherov, who set up the goal.

The Lightning would take that 2-0 lead into the first intermission and build on it in the second. Goals three and four resulted from plays down and around the net. On the Power Play, Hedman received a pass up the boards from Kucherov and proceeded to rocket the puck to Drouin, who was waiting down by the net.

After receiving the puck, Drouin delivered a quick cross-feed pass to Ondrej Palat. He got it back over to Drouin, who shot the puck into a wide open net to give the Lightning a 3-0 lead.

On the fourth and final goal for the Lightning, Killorn made a stretch pass through the neutral zone to Kucherov, who sped into the zone and delivered a give-and-go pass near the left faceoff dot. Kucherov then delivered a cross-crease pass to Johnson, in which the puck deflected off of his body and went into the net. The Lightning were up 4-0 late in the second period.

The third period, however, was a different story and the Penguins nearly pulled off what would have been an incredible comeback. After replacing Murray in net, Marc-Andre Fleury took over and Pittsburgh proceeded to score three unanswered goals in the final period. Phil Kessel, Evgeni Malkin, and Kunitz each scored a goal and made it a one goal game, in which the Lightning led 4-3 with under seven minutes to go.

But, the Lightning staved off an ensuing attack by the Penguins in the final minute, as they survived a barrage of shots from within their own zone.

The series is tied and there will be a Game 5 in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Before I wrap this up, I want to take a look at some statistics throughout last night’s Game 4 thriller. The shots on goal through periods one and two were fairly balanced, as the Lightning had a 30-22 shot advantage going into the third period. But, the Penguins managed 16 shots on goal during that wild third period.

Also, the Lightning finished Game 4 with -14 SAT and a 41.46 Corsi% to the Pittsburgh’s 58.46 Corsi%. Something interesting to note as well is that the Penguins as a team had a 65.22 Corsi Close%, which likely resulted from that strong push in the final minutes of the game.

And finally, Tyler Johnson finished with a somewhat uncharacteristic -12 SAT, which means he was on the ice for 8 shot attempts for and 20 shot attempts against, tied for last among Lightning players in Game 4. But, he’s not alone in that category and most Lightning players have finished on the negative side of things in regards to that stat.

Related Story: Tampa Bay Lightning Blowout Turns Into Hard-Earned Win

Game 5 at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh should shape out to be a wild one and might be a deciding factor in which team advances to the Stanley Cup Final. Puck drop is slated for a bit after 8 P.M. on NBCSN.