Tampa Bay Lightning Ground the Winnipeg Jets

Final. 2. 107. 4. 23

The Tampa Bay Lightning overcame the loss of two more players to defeat the Winnipeg Jets 4-2 at the MTS Centre in Canada.

The Tampa Bay Lightning faced a lot of adversity in this game, but then again what else is new? The good news is, the Lightning was able to overcome and they were able to ground the Winnipeg Jets 4-2.

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The Lightning started this game off right in so many ways. The first thing I would like to mention is the level to which the Lightning has been defending goaltender Ben Bishop this season has been heartwarming.

Our guess is that they don’t want to go through another season where Bishop has an extended absence.

On another note, the Tampa Bay Lightning made their presence known early in the first period as the captain Steven Stamkos found the back of the net with the assists from left wing Jonathan Drouin and center Valtteri Filppula.

The Lightning found themselves in the box a few more times than they would have liked during the first period. As Filppula sat in the box serving two minutes for Holding on Jets defenseman Tobias Enstrom, it would be defenseman Matt Carle who would be joining him for 2 minutes for Holding center Bryan Little.

We don’t know about you, but we’d love to know where the hold was. Those phantom holds just seem to appear out of nowhere.

All sarcasm aside, we have got to do better if we are going to remain strong and not rely too much on Bishop. In addition to not blocking shots, the inconsistent penalty kill is something that has hit us hard in the past. Thankfully, while it does pop up from time to time, it does not seem to be a consistent issue – at least for now.

Unfortunately, the second period was nowhere near as good as the first one.

They started out in pretty much the same form as the first period. At just 4:45 in the second, Jonathan Drouin takes the pass from behind the net from Nikita Kucherov and fires it in the back of the net for his first ever National Hockey League goal.

Unfortunately, it seemed to go downhill from there. After being plagued by penalties – some deserved, some incredibly phantom – the Lightning seemed to fall apart.

This opened the door for the Jets to get their goal back with an unassisted goal from Little with the assists to Enstrom and Jets captain Andrew Ladd.

At 5:05 in the second, the Jets got away with what will likely go down as the robbery of the night as Dustin Byfuglien slashed Bishop not once, but twice. When Gudas went to give him the what’s what, he somehow ends up with the extra penalty as both him and Byfuglien are sent off the ice.

Gudas would receive two minutes for High Sticking and five minutes for Fighting. On the flip side, Byfuglien would be sent off for just five minutes for Fighting.

There are plenty of things I would like to say about that encounter, but as they are not very professional I will keep them to myself – at least for now.

The good news is, it was not all doom and gloom for the Bolts in the second period.

At 12:52 in the second, the Tampa Bay Lightning would strike once again, this time on the Power Play. It was initially believed that the goal belonged to Ondrej Palat, but it would eventually be adjusted to show that Vladislav Namestnikov made the goal with the assists from Palat and Kucherov.

The Bolts would find a way to overcome all the doom and gloom of the second period as Ondrej Palat was able to sink the puck in the back of the net with the assists from Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov. This would put the Lightning up 4-1 heading into the intermission.

There were plenty of changes taking place as the third period got underway. The first of which was a change in net for Winnipeg. After allowing 4 goals in the first two periods, the Winnipeg Jets elected to pull goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. In his place would be goaltender Michael Hutchinson.

Thanks to the combination of a seemingly revitalized defense and stellar play by Ben Bishop, the Lightning would be able to hold off the assault.

Unfortunately, the Lightning received some bad news at the start of the third. It was revealed that right wing J.T. Brown would be out with an Upper Body Injury and right wing Brett Connolly would be out with a Lower Body Injury. Neither player would return to the game.

This just adds to the long list of players who have suffered an injury in the last few games.

The third period would be rather uneventful for the first half. Unfortunately, it was the Jets who struck first in the third with a goal from Jets right wing Blake Wheeler with assists from Mathieu Perreault and Tobias Enstrom.

Late in the third period, the Jets would pull their goaltender in order to give them an extra man on the ice. Thanks to the combination of a seemingly revitalized defense and stellar play by Ben Bishop, the Lightning would be able to hold off the assault.

Our main observation from this game is that the Bolts need to be weary on the ice. They should know by now that the referees have their eyes on them and, whether they are legit or not, love to call penalties on us. They are going to have to be a little smarter in that aspect.

On the other hand, the growing list of injuries to the Lightning is not helping any. We only recently got back Jonathan Drouin and Radko Gudas only to lose Victor Hedman, Ryan Callahan, almost lose Nikita Kucherov, and now to lose J.T. Brown and Brett Connolly.

Not only is this going to result in some more call ups from the Syracuse Crunch, but it is going to involve a lot of line juggling. While the call ups are not an issue as the Lightning have some tremendous depth, constantly juggling the lines helps nothing in the terms of on-ice chemistry.

Another place where the Bolts seemed to struggle is Shots on Goal. The Lightning was absolutely decimated in this arena as they were outshot 42-27 through three periods of play. While I have always been a proponent of quality over quantity – which is something they definitely had tonight – this is a little above and beyond in that arena.

The good news is, the Tampa Bay Lightning has always been able to find a way to overcome in the face of adversity, and there is nothing in play that will prevent them from continuing this trend this season. Although, we must say that we would certainly like the necessity for this to end at some point in the near future.

At the end of the day, a goal is a goal in the same respect as a win is a win. A win is just what the Tampa Bay Lightning did tonight.

What are your thoughts on the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets? Who do you think will be getting the call to help in the event Brown and Connolly are not ready to go tomorrow? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Next up, the Lightning will finish off their five-game road trip as they head to the Xcel Energy Center to face off with Mikko Koivu and the Minnesota Wild. The puck drops at 8:00 p.m. EST.

Be sure to stay up-to-date with all the latest Lightning news and updates with Bolts By the Bay. LIKE us on Facebook at Bolts By The Bay, and you can follow us on Twitter at @BoltsByTheBay.

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