Tampa Bay Lightning Battle Back, Defeat Toronto Maple Leafs In Overtime
The Tampa Bay Lightning had a bit of a rocky start, but were able to battle back to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 in overtime.
The Tampa Bay Lightning knew when they left Columbus last night after their 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, they were headed for a challenge tonight. Not only would the Tampa Bay Lightning have to do battle with their Atlantic Division rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, on the back end of a back-to-back, but they would also have to deal with the media frenzy surrounding Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos.
The Tampa Bay Lightning elected to skip the morning skate this morning and the team was not made available to speak to the media, who would undoubtedly hit the team with a barrage of questions regarding the contract status of the young Lightning captain. While it may seem as if the Lightning are hiding something, this actually makes perfect sense.
When you have a team like the Tampa Bay Lightning who really need to bring home the two points in tonight’s encounter, this shields them from the media madness and allows them to concentrate on what is really important here, scoring goals and winning hockey games.
Thankfully for the Tampa Bay Lightning, it didn’t take very long before the Bolts would make their move and get some of the latter happening. Just one second shy of three minutes into the first period. Vladislav Namestnikov would hand the puck off to Nikita Kucherov who would score his 12 goal of the season with a backhanded shot which made its way past Maple Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier and into the back of the net.
Unfortunately, a simple mistake by defenseman Anton Stralman would give the Maple Leafs a second opportunity of the night with the man advantage. This time, the Maple Leafs would capitalize and even the score at one. The Maple Leafs goal would be scored by center Tyler Bozak. This is Bozak’s 100th career goal.
Almost adding insult to injury, the Maple Leafs weren’t quite done with the Tampa Bay Lightning just yet. As the final minutes of the first period ticked off the clock, the Maple Leafs would control the Tampa Bay Lightning zone. Lightning defenseman Matt Carle would get beat by Maple Leafs left wing James van Riemsdyk, who would ultimately put the puck past Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to give the Leafs their first lead of the night.
One of the most disconcerting things about the first period of play is the difficulty the Lightning seemed to have mounting any sort of a real offense against the Maple Leafs. In the first period, the Maple Leafs outshot the Lightning 15-4. While we here at Bolts By The Bay have always been a proponent of quality over quantity, there comes a point when a player needs to leave their reservations behind and simply take the shot.
While the Tampa Bay Lightning would seemingly make their way out of the tunnel with a little more intensity, things seemed to go from bad to worse in the second period. The Lightning would get an opportunity with the man advantage in the opening seconds of the second period as Maple Leafs center Daniel Winnik would head to the box for two minutes for Hooking Vladislav Namestnikov. Unfortunately, the Lightning were unable to capitalize.
The Lightning’s Power Play unit would show their overwhelming struggle to find consistency a little later in the second period. Just before the halfway point in the second, the Tampa Bay Lightning would get an opportunity with a 5-on-3 Power Play. Much like the Power Play opportunity that came before, the Bolts were still unable to find a way to capitalize.
While we completely understand that injuries are playing a huge factor in the team’s overall performance, the Tampa Bay Lightning will have to find a way to overcome if they are ever going to have a snowball’s chance in a Florida summer of making their way to the post season.
Just over the halfway point in the second period, the Maple Leafs would strike once again with a goal from defenseman Morgan Rielly, who would score his fourth goal of the season, to extend the Maple Leafs’ lead to 2-1.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock and the second period was about to become a things of the past, Lightning would strike and the Maple Leafs would have their lead reduced by one. It would be defenseman Anton Stralman who would receive a pass from Kucherov and effortlessly put the puck in the back of the net.
The Tampa Bay Lightning would double the amount of shots they took in the second period as they did in the first period, but they still weren’t able to make much ground on the Maple Leafs. Through 40 minutes of play, the Toronto Maple Leafs would outshoot the Tampa Bay Lightning 24-14.
The Lightning didn’t have much of an opportunity to set the pace in the third period. In the opening seconds of the period, Tampa Bay Lightning center Valtteri Filppula would be sent to the sin bin for two minutes for Hooking Maple Leafs center Nazem Kadri. On the bright side, the Tampa Bay Lightning were able to successfully kill the penalty and come out fairly unscathed.
Once things started to kick into high gear for the Tampa Bay Lightning, the third period quickly became all about the Lightning’s young call-ups. First, it was Lightning right wing Mike Blunden who would score his first goal of the season, on his birthday nonetheless, to tie the game up for the Bolts.
Just 36 seconds later, Lightning would strike once more with a goal from Lightning center Jonathan Marchessault. Marchessault has really made an impact in the short amount of time he’s spent on the Tampa Bay Lightning’s main roster. Adding in his numbers from tonight, Marchessault has scored four goals and one assist for a total of five points in the now-15 games he’s played.
Unfortunately for the Bolts, just after the 13 minute mark in the third period, Maple Leafs center Daniel Winnik, who has been quite the thorn in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s side tonight, would screen Vasilevskiy and tie the game up for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Tampa Bay Lightning would do everything they could to try and get back on top in regulation, but it simply wasn’t meant to be. The buzzer would sound and these two Atlantic Division rivals would be headed to overtime.
Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper would elect to start off the overtime period with Valtteri Filppula, J.T. Brown, and Anton Stralman. It’s rather curious Cooper elected not to start Stamkos in the overtime period, but we guess this is why he is the Head Coach and we’re not.
Despite a less-than-impressive start for the Tampa Bay Lightning, what would happen in the first two minutes of the overtime period would be a true thing of beauty. Vladislav Namestnikov would get control of the puck in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s defensive zone. Vladdy would use his speed and tremendous puck handling skills to take the puck coast to coast, virtually unchallenged, and go right down the middle past Bernier to win the game for the Bolts.
Seriously…was that goal by Namestnikov not a thing of true and incomparable beauty?
A win over the Toronto Maple Leafs was exactly what the Tampa Bay Lightning needed tonight. Stamkos contract speculation aside, the Tampa Bay Lightning prove you can battle through and win on a back-to-back – even when six of your key players are riding the sidelines with various injuries.
There is still plenty of work to be done if the Tampa Bay Lightning want to find themselves with an opportunity to keep playing hockey in April, but tonight’s win over the Toronto Maple Leafs is definitely a step in the right direction.
The Lightning will have a couple of days off before they head to the Verizon Center to take on Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Friday night in Washington. The Tampa Bay Lightning have yet to defeat the Capitals this season, so Friday night will be a real statement for the determination and skill of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 p.m. in our Nation’s capital on Friday night. Make sure to stay connected right here to Bolts By The Bay as we bring you all the latest Tampa Bay Lightning, news, updates, commentary, and more.