Tampa Bay Lightning Week In Review: Drouin Continues To Shine

The Tampa Bay Lightning recently completed a brutal stretch where they played four games in seven nights with two of those games being on the road. This stretched included an afternoon Columbus Day showdown against the Boston Bruins and a game the next night at Joe Louis Arena against the Detroit Red Wings. The team later returned to Amalie Arena where they would take on the Dallas Stars and Buffalo Sabres to wrap up this weeks slate of games.

After a well played game in Buffalo just a few days before, the Tampa Bay Lightning entered the TD Garden, home of the Boston Bruins. The Lightning have not had much success on the Bruins home ice, but Monday afternoons game showed exactly what it takes to win in a place like bean town. After the Bruins got out to a 2-0 lead early in the first period, the Lightning began to use their speed to completely take over the game.

It all started with a great effort by Boston College alum Brian Boyle chugging his way through the neutral zone, fighting off a Boston defender, and scoring on the partial breakaway to get the Lightning back in the game. Then, the powerplay finally came alive.

The Bolts capitalized on two of their powerplay attempts during the game which really helped keep momentum on their side. Jonathan Drouin scored his first goal of the season and captain Steven Stamkos scored his 500th career point in what turned out to be the game winning goal.

Video: Steven Stamkos Scores His 500th Career Point

Tuesday nights game in Detroit began what was a slow stretch for the team. After a hard fought win the afternoon before, the team flew into Detroit looking to grab two points on the second half on a back-to-back against the Red Wings. Well, there was just one problem with this plan; the team was just not ready to play and the end result showed just that. After a scoreless first period that saw goaltender Ben Bishop shut the door on countless Red Wing power play opportunities, the Wings began to take over the game.

The Red Wings finally broke through on the powerplay when Matt Carle was sent to the box. Though the Lightning get on the board when Jonathan Drouin fed the puck to Ryan Callahan to give the Bolts their only goal of the game, it would just not be enough. After that, Detroit completely shut down the Lightning offense by not allowing them to get their speed going in the neutral zone. Goals from Henrik Zetterberg and Kyle Quincey would cap off the win for Detroit in what was the worst game of the season thus far for the boys in blue.

Related: Tampa Bay Lightning: The Triplets Kryptonite 

After arriving at Amalie Arena after a three-game road trip, the Lightning would welcome the Dallas Stars to town. Dallas, like Tampa Bay, is known for their speed and high scoring offense and coming off their worst played game of the year, the Lightning defense needed to be ready for the high flying Stars attack.

In what seemed to be a carbon copy of the Bruins game, the Stars capitalized twice on the powerplay to help power a 4-0 run after the Lightning got on the board first. The Lightning were able to get to within one late in the third period, a Jason Spezza goal pushed the Dallas lead to two and ended up being the final goal of the game.

Knowing their last two games were not their best, the Lightning knew they needed to come out of Saturday nights game against Buffalo with a win. After dominating the Sabres in their first meeting of the year, it was Buffalo that got off to a quick start and took it to the Lightning early in the first period.

Goaltender Ben Bishop kept the Lightning in the game as he stopped 15 of the 16 shots he saw. The Bolts were able to get back into the game when Vladislav Namestnikov was able to tie the game early in the second period. As we went on to the third, Alex Killorn scored in his first game back since his injury on October 13th to give the Lightning a 2-1 win.

Some of this weeks standouts include Ben Bishop, Vlad Namestnikov, and Jonathan Drouin. Bishop has played all six games this season for the Lightning and has done everything in his power to give the team a chance to win in each contest.

So far, Bishop has a respectable 2.35 GAA and .911 SV% in the early going, but he has won the team atleast two games by himself by standing on his head in high intensity situations. Until Andrei Vasilevskiy returns from his time on injured reserve, Bishop will need to continue to play well and possibly play all or all but one of the teams games while the talented Russian recovers from offseason surgery.

Namestnikov continues to play the role as the team’s ‘energizer bunny’ very well early on in the regular season. Playing the role as the fourth line center, Namestnikov with his linemates J.T. Brown and Brian Boyle have created havoc in the defensive zone against what is usually the oppositions best line.

Vladdy has used his speed and skill very well on the fourth line and so much so that he has even seen some time on the second powerplay unit. No matter how well the team plays, you can always expect Namestnikov to be consistent and leave it all on the ice night in and night out.

Jonathan Drouin has played lights out so far this season. Playing on a line with Steven Stamkos and Ryan Callahan, this trio has carried the team early in terms of putting the puck in the back of the net. Drouin has continued to show offensive ability while also showing the ability to fend for himself in the defensive zone.

That is important because the reason Drouin saw so much time in the press box was due to the fact that he was not trusted defensively. Now, playing top line minutes and towards the top of the team lead in assists and points scored, Drouin will continue to grow into yet another offensive weapon that will keep opposing coaches awake at night.

The team will begin a four-game central division road trip with three of those games coming this week against the Nashville Predators (10/20), Winnipeg Jets (10/23) and a rematch against the defending Stanley Cup champion winning Chicago Blackhawks (10/24). Three tough opponents in three tough venues this week will be a big test for the Lightning as they continue to grow as a team. Be sure to catch the first two games of the trip on Sun Sports while the game against the Blackhawks will be broadcasted on NBCSN.

Next: Tampa Bay Lightning: The Real Matt Carle Effect