Tampa Bay Lightning Highlights: Gabriel Dumont Tip-In Takes The Lead For Bolts (Video)

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Gabriel Dumont was able to get a piece of a shot from defenseman Jason Garrison and take the lead for the Bolts over the New York Rangers.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had placed themselves in a rather precarious position in the first 20 minutes of play against goaltender Antti Raanta and the New York Rangers. Despite being able to tie things up around the halfway point in the period, the Lightning allowed the Rangers to skate circles around them.

In the first 20 minutes if play, the New York Rangers would outshoot the Tampa Bay Lightning by the devastating margin of 13-3. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen…the Lightning allowed themselves to be contained to a mere three shots on goal for the first 20 minutes of the game.

If the Lightning had any aspirations of leaving the Big Apple with a much-needed two points from tonight’s contest, this is something they would have to fix, and quickly. Fortunately, the second period sang a slightly different tune for the Bolts.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Ironically enough, while the tides may have turned in the favor of the Lightning, the structure of the period wasn’t exactly deviated from very much. The scoring would still open up in the early moments of the period. The major difference was, this time it would be the Lightning in the driver’s seat.

Once again, the Tampa Bay Lightning were fighting for possession of the puck in the offensive zone, behind the net. This time, it would be Lightning forward Gabriel Dumont who would be able to get the puck free and send it sailing to a teammate in a slightly better shooting position.

The player in place would be Lightning defenseman, Jason Garrison. Garrison took a split second in order to fully gain control of the puck, but once everything was in order, Garrison wasted no time in pulling back his stick and attempting to put the puck on the net.

Thankfully, Dumont just happened to be waiting in front of the net for any potential rebound. Dumont was able to get his stick on the puck and cause an awkward bounce as the puck headed for the net. This bounce cause Raanta to lose track of the puck and it easily made its way into the back of the net.

The Tampa Bay Lightning definitely need some help in front of the net when it comes to putting shots on goal, especially considering they were only able to muster three shots on goal in the first period. On the bright side, they have definitely made up for it in actually putting the puck inside the net.

Next: Steven Stamkos Making Strides Towards Return

There is still plenty of hockey left to play tonight, but if the Lightning can manage to continue to be as persistent as they have been so far this period in addition to elevating the amount of shots on goal they produce, the Lightning will find themselves in a good position when the final buzzer sounds.