Depleted in numbers, hemmed in by relentless defenders, frustrated by long forays into the offensive zone with few shots on goal, the Tampa Bay Lightning spent the first 57-plus minutes of last night’s game in Calgary with nothing to show but a 1-0 deficit for all of their short-staffed efforts.
And then came the turnaround. Valtteri Filppula scored on a tap-in with 2:16 left in regulation to forge a 1-1 tie. And Ondrej Palat, whose turnover led to the winning goal by Edmonton just a night earlier, scored a game-winner of his own with two minutes left in overtime as the Lightning defeated the Flames, 2-1, inside the Saddledome in Calgary.
The win improved Tampa Bay to 4-2-1 on the season and 2-1 on the current five-game road trip, which continues against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday and the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. The Flames fell to 4-3-1.
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The Bolts began the night with a new face (Mike Blunden, called up from Syracuse earlier in the day) in the line-up and all new line combinations necessitated by a string of injuries to key players. With Ryan Callahan out (his status is “week-to-week” with a lower body injury), rookie phenom Jonathan “Cool Hand” Drouin joined Steven Stamkos and Valtteri Filppula on the top line. Alex Killorn (“day-to-day” with a lower body injury) missed his second straight game after playing in all 82 last season; Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Brett Connolly comprised the second line last night as a result. On defense, Andrej Sustr and Mark Barberio picked up extra minutes in place of Victor Hedman (four-to-six weeks after successful hand surgery yesterday) and Radko Gudas (“day-to-day” with a lower body injury).
Furthermore, for more than five minutes the Lightning were down to 10 forwards after Nikita Kucherov was injured on an open-ice hit and J. T. Brown was sent to the penalty box for fighting after he admirably came to Kucherov’s defense. And of the 10 forwards, one — Blunden — was playing in his very first game with the Bolts and another — Drouin — was playing in his second game. The Lightning squad was seriously undermanned but never really outgunned by the Flames attack, thanks in large part to goalkeeper Evgeni Nabokov, who made 22 saves, a number of them on the spectacular side, to keep the Flames in check. Nabokov was named the game’s No. 1 star.
The depleted numbers and unfamiliar line combinations (and maybe the impact of playing back-to-back games), along with Calgary’s stifling defense that kept the puck to the outside and limited skating space for the speedy Lightning forwards, resulted in few offensive chances for the Bolts for most of regulation. The Bolts clearly missed Callahan and Killorn, gritty big men who are willing to mix it up in front of the net. Instead the forwards skated and passed around the perimeter, logging good minutes in the offensive zone but taking few dangerous shots. Calgary goalkeeper Karri Ramo, a former Lightning prospect, made 22 saves on the night.
The highlight of the first period was arguably Brown’s fight, the first for the Lightning this season and the first for Brown in his still-young career. With 1:48 left in the period, Mark Giordano made a clean but devastating open-ice hit on Nikita Kucherov, sending the rookie Lightning forward crumpling to the ice. Brown immediately chased down Giordano and engaged in a short round of fisticuffs. Both players received five for fighting. Kucherov headed right to the locker room. He did not return to the bench until the start of the third period.
The second period was more of the same stifling defense on both ends of the ice. Ondrej Palat had a good short-handed chance stopped by Ramo. Brett Connolly hit a post, made a steal that led to a great J. T. Brown opportunity, and executed a sweet between-the-legs pass, but Ramo continued his shut-down play.
The Flames began the third period on the power play. Johnny Gaudreau skated down the left side, pulling all four Lightning defenders his way, before slipping a late cross-ice pass to Dennis Wideman for an easy tap-in to an open net. Calgary led, 1-0, and it almost stood up the rest of the way as Steven Stamkos hit a post and the frustration continued.
But then, with just over two minutes left in regulation, heralded rookie Jonathan Drouin spun out of a corner and zipped a pass to defenseman Jason Garrison at the blue line. Garrison fired a booming shot that trickled through Ramo, and forward Valtteri Filppula nudged the puck across the line for the 1-1 tie with 2:16 remaining. Drouin earn his first NHL point with the assist.
Overtime simply belonged to the Bolts. Skating 4-on-4 gave the Lightning forwards the space they had craved all evening. Stamkos and Drouin came free for a 2-on-0 break; only an amazing sliding save by Ramo kept Calgary alive and kept Drouin from his first NHL score, a game-winner. (Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper called it a “sick save” in his post-game press conference.) Seconds later Connolly and Filppula could not finish on a 2-on-1 break. Then Tyler Johnson passed back to Anton Stralman near the blue line, Stralman buzzed a blast that rebounded off Ramo, and Palat scooped up the puck, went left side to right side, and put home the game winner. Redemption was his.
Depleted in bodies but not in spirit, the Bolts picked up two points and earned a couple of days off before taking on Dustin Byfuglien and the body-crunching Winnipeg Jets. With Alex Killorn and Radko Gudas expected to return to the line-up, adversity might take a couple of days off as well.