The Tampa Bay Lightning left everything out on the ice, in more ways than one, to defeat the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 in Game 2 of the 2016 NHL Playoffs.
The Tampa Bay Lightning was able to battle back in the third period and emerge victorious over the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in Game One of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Tonight, the Lightning had a very similar challenge in front of them. The Tampa Bay Lightning charged back into the Amalie Arena here in the Sunshine State to once again take on the Detroit Red Wings in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Lightning got off to a bit of a slow start, giving the Red Wings the opportunity to control the pace of the game and keep the puck in the Lightning zone for far longer than one would have hoped. Thankfully, the Red Wings wouldn’t remain in control for much longer. Finally, it seemed as if the beast inside the Tampa Bay Lightning had woken up and they were being much more aggressive with the puck.
Just before the halfway point in the period, there was a moment in time when every single Tampa Bay Lightning fan around the Bolts Nation started screaming at the top of their lungs as Red Wings center Dylan Larkin made a run at Jonathan Drouin at the edge of the neutral zone. Larkin went high with Drouin’s head being the principle point of contact sending Drouin tumbling to the ground.
Despite the fact that Jonathan Drouin was bleeding from his mouth following the contact between him and Larkin, play goes on as usual with no call from the referees. This is not the first call we had something to say about, but that’s another story for another time.
As the time continued to tick off the clock and the end of the first period was quickly approaching, the Tampa Bay Lightning would find themselves in a very advantageous position. At 14:20 in the period, Red Wings right wing Gustav Nyquist would head to the box for two minutes for Slashing Braydon Coburn. Just 27 seconds later, Justin Abdelkader would end up in the box for two minutes for Tripping Tyler Johnson.
This would give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 5-on-3 opportunity towards the end of the period. Just one minute into the original penalty, Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov would capitalize on the Lightning’s opportunity with the man advantage and strike first blood for the Bolts.
Kucherov was also responsible for the first goal of the night on Wednesday in Game 1. This is just one of the many reasons Nikita Kucherov has taken his place as the Tampa Bay Lightning’s clutch player.
Unfortunately, much like Game 1 of the series, the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to fall into a rut in the second period allowing the Red Wings to tie the game at just 3:30 into the second period. Red Wings rookie Dylan Larkin would be the one to get the job done with the assists from Jonathan Ericsson and Niklas Kronwall.
On the bright side, the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to have much more fight tonight than during Game One. Just over three minutes later, Lightning center Brian Boyle would go into beast mode and take the puck to the net, beating Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard to tie things up for the Tampa Bay Lightning. In addition to Boyle’s first goal of the postseason, Boyle’s goal also afforded Jonathan Drouin his first postseason point.
Things went a little crazy just past the halfway point in the second period. Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser took a cheap shot at Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat, sending him crashing head first into the boards. Ondrej Palat did make his way up the tunnel to the Lightning locker room, but he was able to return to the game not long after.
Of course, Palat’s teammates were not too pleased with the shot to their teammate and a large scuffle broke out. While DeKeyser would somehow magically not receive a call for his cheap shot to Palat, but Red Wings center Riley Sheahan, Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin, defenseman Victor Hedman would all make their way to the box. Drouin and Sheahan would head off for Roughing as Hedman would go off for Unsportsmanlike Conduct.
Thankfully, the Tampa Bay Lightning would be able to hold strong and kill off the penalty, even after Victor Hedman picked up an extra penalty for Hooking after the expiration of his previous penalty.
The third period is when things went from accelerated to just plain out of control. Things started off fairly normal. Unfortunately, thanks to an early penalty to Nikita Nesterov for high sticking Gustav Nyquist, the door would be opened for former Tampa Bay Lightning center Brad Richards to capitalize on the man advantage and once again tie things up for the Red Wings.
The next two goals would come at the hands of Tampa Bay Lightning center Tyler Johnson, who has definitely found his groove this postseason. The assist on the first Johnson goal went to Alex Killorn. The assists on the second goal would be credited to Nikita Kucherov and Jason Garrison.
As the final minutes began to tick off the clock, the Tampa Bay Lightning decided it was time to put the final nail in the coffin of the Detroit Red Wings as Alex Killorn scores his second goal of the postseason to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 5-2 lead over the Red Wings. While this would be the end of the scoring tonight, it was definitely not the end of the game.
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With less than one minute left in the game, it seemed as if all hell had broken loose in front of the Tampa Bay Lightning net. Ben Bishop had nothing else to do but stand back and watch as a dog pile built up in front of his crease. Ironically enough, the entire chaos was started when former Tampa Bay Lightning center Brad Richards took a slash at Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr.
During the madness, Detroit Red Wings left wing Justin Abdelkader decided he was going to take advantage of Lightning right wing Mike Blunden, who was already face down on the ice, but unleashing a barrage of punches to the back of his head. Despite what some Red Wings fans have to say, we’re pretty positive this is going to be looked at tomorrow morning by the NHL Department of Player Safety.
Needless to say, there is no love lost between these two teams, and the tension keeps getting thicker and thicker as the series continues. One can safely assume this is not the last major brawl we’ve seen between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Detroit Red Wings, but as long as the Tampa Bay Lightning continue to beat them on the scoreboard, we’ll be in a good position to head into the next round.
Next: Lightning Vs. Red Wings: How Do These Two Teams Match Up?
It will be interesting to see what happens when these two teams meet once again in the center of the ice. The difference maker may be that this time they will be in Red Wings territory at the Joe Louis Arena. Thankfully, it won’t be long now before we get to watch everything play out. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday night in Detroit. Are you ready to Be The Thunder so loud they can hear us in Detroit?