Tampa Bay Lightning Battle Back To Defeat Edmonton Oilers

The Tampa Bay Lightning powered back in the third period to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 and kick off their back-to-back weekend series on a high note.

The Tampa Bay Lightning has encountered more than their fair share of struggles this season. Between the outrageous amount of injuries they’ve been forced to deal with and the lack of offensive chemistry that has been holding the team back, it has been a very shaky season for the Bolts.

As the Tampa Bay Lightning charged into Rexall Place tonight to take on the Edmonton Oilers, the Lightning would officially make their way into the second half of the season. This is the point and time in the season when every single point matters, and simple mistakes can sink a team’s entire season. Keeping this in mind, the Tampa Bay Lightning knew they would have to leave it all out on the ice tonight if they wanted to bring home the two points.

Unfortunately, the first period would not exactly get off to the start they would have hoped for. Struggling to get quality shots on goal, the Lightning would go just about five minutes into the period before they would even register their first shot on goal. While there was a lot of back and forth between the Bolts and the Oilers, it would be the Edmonton Oilers who would strike first blood.

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr would play the puck in the defensive zone, but the puck eventually gets taken over by Oilers right wing Jordan Eberle. Eberle would pass the puck across the ice to Oilers defenseman Justin Schultz. Schultz would take a shot at the net, but the puck was deflected by Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop.

Unfortunately, Bishop would not be so lucky when the rebound came. Schultz would get a piece of the deflection and send the puck flying past Bishop into the back of the net. This would give the Edmonton Oilers the early lead.

The Tampa Bay Lightning would ultimately outshoot the Edmonton Oilers 9-5 in the first period, but it would be the Edmonton Oilers who would control the game when the buzzer would sound to send the game to the first intermission.

When the Lightning and the Oilers would take the ice for the second period of play, the Oilers wasted no time in setting the tone for the rest of the period. Just under three minutes into the second period, the Tampa Bay Lightning would find themselves on the Penalty Kill as Nikita Kucherov would be sent to the box for two minutes for Tripping. The Oilers would use their opportunity with the man advantage to extend their lead by one with a goal from former Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Benoit Pouliot.

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The bad news for the Lightning this period was that this was only the beginning of the Oilers’ offensive pressure in the second period. While the Oilers would only register the singular goal in the second period, they would outshoot the Lightning 14-8 in the second period, which would bring the totals to 19-17 Oilers throughout the first 40 minutes of play.

As the Tampa Bay Lightning headed back out on the ice for the third period of play, they knew they would have to make their move, and quickly, if they had any hope of coming home with the two points in tonight’s encounter. The same two points that would move them one step closer to making their way into the playoff picture this season.

There were plenty of people in the Bolts Nation who had lost faith in the team in regards to pulling out a win in tonight’s encounter. While we can certainly see their frustration, the whole scope of a game can change in a matter of seconds. This is exactly what happened in the third period for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

While we may never know what was said in the locker room in between the second and third periods, whatever it was seemed to ignite the spark that was needed for the Tampa Bay Lightning to really dig into this game.

At just about the three minute mark in the third period, the Tampa Bay Lightning would fight for possession of the puck in front of the Oilers net. Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman would get control of the puck and initiate a backhanded pass to Kucherov. Kucherov would take the shot, which would ultimately fly past Oilers’ netminder Cam Talbot and into the back of the net.

Adding insult to injury on this one, the puck seemed to make its way into the back of the net off the stick of Brandon Davidson. At this point in the game, we’ll take it where we can get it.

The ice breaking goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to stoke the fire burning in the hearts of the Tampa Bay Lightning. This is where things started to get really interesting for the Tampa Bay Lightning. It started to seem as if the Edmonton Oilers were making a habit of putting the puck in the back of their own net.

Just shy of the 15 minute mark in the third period, Victor Hedman would come speeding into the Edmonton Oilers zone. With little to no hesitation, Hedman would fire the puck towards the net. While he may have had the best intentions in mind, Oilers left wing Taylor Hall would tip the puck and send it sailing past his own netminder. This would ultimately tie things up for the Tampa Bay Lightning with five minutes left to play.

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Now, the pressure was on. If the Tampa Bay Lightning found themselves unable to make a move in the next five minutes of play, the Bolts would be headed to another 3-on-3 overtime period. Should they fail to hold on to their lead, they would leave without the two points. However, if the Tampa Bay Lightning could make a move and put the puck in the back of the net just one more time, they would be able to shut this one down in regulation and kick off their back-to-back weekend series on a high note.

Thankfully, the Tampa Bay Lightning would choose the latter of the above options. The Lightning would once again battle for puck possession in the Oilers zone. Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos would set himself up and take the shot from the stick side of Talbot.

Unfortunately for the Oilers, the shot that would have (under different circumstances) been wide of the net deflected off the skate of Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse and would sail into the back of the net to give the Lightning their first lead of the game.

This is the crazy kind of game that comes around once every couple of seasons. Not one, not two, but all three of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s goals in the third period of play can, in some shape or form, be attributed to a member of the Edmonton Oilers. While this may not be the ideal way to win a game, when you are entering the back half of the season, teams will take points any which way they can get them.

When the final buzzer sounded, the Tampa Bay Lightning would defeat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2.

While the Tampa Bay Lightning would walk away from tonight’s game two points ahead of where they found themselves just 24 hours earlier, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done if the Lightning want to find themselves securely in the playoff picture at the end of the season.

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The one thing that has been eluding the team the entire season is consistency. If the Tampa Bay Lightning can manage to find half of the chemistry they had last season, the Bolts would be an unstoppable force heading into the final portion of the season.

It’s really hard to dissect the situation and really break down where the Tampa Bay Lightning seem to have gone wrong this season. While we are sure the inordinate amount of injuries this season have attributed quite a bit to their struggles, there is something else going on behind the scenes that seems to have cast a dark cloud over the team who were one of the driving forces in the NHL just one season ago.

The good news is, despite their struggles early in tonight’s encounter, the Tampa Bay Lightning were able to battle back and bring home the two points in the first game of their back-to-back weekend series. The Tampa Bay Lightning won’t have much time to celebrate their win. Tomorrow night, the Bolts head into Rogers Arena to take on the Vancouver Canucks.

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