Tampa Bay Lightning Recap: Bolts Bring Home Much-Needed Victory Against Avalanche
The Tampa Bay Lightning made a few ill-timed mistakes along the way, but when the final buzzer sounded, they brought home a much-needed victory over the Colorado Avalanche.
The Tampa Bay Lightning finished off their back-to-back weekend series tonight in the Mile High City as they charged into the Pepsi Center to take on the Colorado Avalanche. Much like any game in the National Hockey League, there were a few bumps along the way, but when the final buzzer sounded, the Lightning brought home a much-needed victory.
Things got off to a bit of a slow start, but it didn’t take long before the Bolts hit their stride. Just before the buzzer sounded to end the first period of play, Lightning forward Brayden Point would make a beautiful play resulting in the Bolts breaking the ice and getting on the board first.
When the buzzer sounded to end the first period of play, it was pretty clear the Lightning had things well in hand. The Bolts had outshot the Avalanche 17-8 in the first 20 minutes of play. The key to the Lightning bringing home the victory would ultimately rest on their ability to continue this pace throughout the game.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Much like the first period of play, the second period was all about the Tampa Bay Lightning. It took until the halfway point in the period before Lightning would strike again, but when it did, it was spectacular. Vladislav Namestnikov stormed into the zone and absolutely deked out Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard and extended the Lightning’s lead over the Avs to two.
Once again, when the buzzer sounded to end the period, the Lightning would be the controlling party. In the second period of play, the Lightning outshot the Avs 13-6 for a two-period total of 30-14. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen…the Lightning had 30 shots on goal by the end of the second period.
Unfortunately, when the third period hit, the Lightning seemed to have completely let their feet off the gas and allowed the Avalanche to mount a pretty serious comeback. Just 2:46 into the third period, the Avalanche would cut the Lightning’s lead to one with a goal from forward Mikko Rantanen.
The Tampa Bay Lightning tried to retake control of the game around the halfway point in the period, but the keen eye of the referee (we hope you can feel the sarcasm oozing from this) took all the air out of the sails of the Lightning.
Just after the halfway point in the game, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Tyler Johnson would find himself in front of the net attempting to get control of the puck. Eventually, he was able to get the puck out and send it forward to defenseman Jake Dotchin. Dotchin took a shot at the net, but it was quickly turned away.
Johnson picked up the rebound and quickly beat Pickard, putting the puck in the back of the net. Before you could even utter the word penalty, Pickard was to his feet begging the referees for a penalty based on goalie interference. As you can probably imagine, the referees were all too eager to comply.
After the referees conferred with the powers that be in the war room in Toronto, it was determined the goal was no good as Tyler Johnson’s back skate collided with Pickard, causing him to lose his balance and miss the goal. Let’s not discuss the fact he was essentially pushed into Pickard by Avs defenseman Tyson Barrie. Unfortunately, the referees have the final say (no matter how wrong they may be) so we must move on.
The bad news is, this event seemed to take any wind remaining in the Lightning’s sails and force it to dissipate into nothingness. Needless to say, the Avalanche had found their spark and the Lightning spent the remainder of regulation chasing their tails.
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As the final seconds ticked off the clock, it seemed as if the Lightning were going to find a way to hold off the Avalanche and pull out a regulation victory. Unfortunately, this was simply not meant to be. With just 42 seconds left in regulation, Avs captain Matt Duchene was able to fire the puck past Lightning netminder Ben Bishop and into the back of the net, sending the game to overtime.
There was a moment in the overtime period where Tampa Bay Lightning fans almost had a heart attack. The Lightning had what looked like a complete on-ice meltdown, leaving Ben Bishop all on his own as the Avalanche sped into the zone. Bishop was forced to come way out of the crease to take on his opponent.
If Lightning fans were anything like us, they found themselves screaming, “No, no, no, NO!!” as the Avalanche flew into the zone. You could almost hear Lightning fans collectively gasp as Bishop made the save. At that point, the team had completely hung Bishop out to dry. The good news is, Bishop is one heck of a G.O.A.T.
The seeds of discord had been planted and many fans were beginning to wonder if the Lightning’s point streak was about to come to an end. Thankfully for the Lightning, Jonathan Drouin was having none of this mess.
The Avalanche were attempting to clear the puck out of their own zone when Drouin would emphatically snatch the puck right off the stick of Avs forward Matt Nieto. Drouin pauses for just long enough to deke Pickard and puts the puck in the back of the net.
One single action changed the entire course of the game. Lightning fans everywhere jumped to their feet and cheered as Jonathan Drouin single-handedly kept the Lightning’s point streak alive.
When it comes down to it, all’s well that ends well. At the same time, if the Tampa Bay Lightning wants to remain successful and fight for one of the two Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference, there are some slight adjustments needing to be made.
The most important of these adjustments would be keeping their feet on the gas for a whole 60 minutes of play. The Bolts dominated the first two periods of play only to almost allow all their hard work to be for naught as they allowed the absolute last place team in the NHL mount a comeback and steal two points from them.
The Tampa Bay Lightning has some of the most talented players in the National Hockey League on their roster. There is no denying the injuries they’ve been forced to deal with this season has taken a toll on them, but the time for excuses has come and gone.
The Lightning knows exactly what they need to do if they want to fight for one of the coveted spots in the postseason. The biggest thing is going to be putting one skate in front of the other and doing it night after night. The Bolts don’t exactly have an easy schedule in front of them, so consistency is going to be a big key to victory.
Next: Brayden Point Making His Impact Known (Video)
Next up, the Tampa Bay Lightning heads home to face off with the Edmonton Oilers. Considering the chatter making its way around the internet about Edmonton’s interest in Lightning forward Brian Boyle, this should shape up to be an interesting game.