Tampa Bay Lightning Come Alive In Third To Eliminate Red Wings

The Tampa Bay Lightning came alive in the third as Ben Bishop earned his first shutout of the postseason to eliminate the Detroit Red Wings in five games.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had an interesting opportunity in front of them tonight. As the Tampa Bay Lightning charged into the Amalie Arena here in the Sunshine State to take on the Detroit Red Wings in Game 5 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Lightning were presented with an opportunity to close the series out and stamp their ticket to the next round against either the New York Islanders or the Florida Panthers.

Surprisingly enough, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings seemed to be on an even keel when this kicked off. None of the chaos that has reared its head over the course of the last couple of games made its way to the ice to start off this game. Even more surprising is that things have been fairly quiet on the penalty front as well.

The Tampa Bay Lightning would get two shots at the Power Play in the first period. Unfortunately, unlike Game 4 on Tuesday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning were completely shut down by the Red Wings with the man advantage. When the buzzer would sound to end the first period of play, the Detroit Red Wings would outshoot the Tampa Bay Lightning 9-8.

Unfortunately, the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to offensively dissolve to nothingness in the second period of play. More often than not, the Lightning’s passes would miss the mark and wind up on the stick of a Red Wing. In addition to this, the Red Wings had FAR too many opportunities to rush Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop on a breakaway. Being brutally honest, if Ben Bishop hadn’t been on his game, we’d be looking at a 10-0 game.

When the buzzer sounded to end the second period of play, the Detroit Red Wings would once again outshoot the Tampa Bay Lightning, this time, 14-6 for a two period total of 23-14. This is not the kind of offense you look for from a team who is staring down a serious opportunity to shut down the Red Wings and move on to the next round.

If the Lightning had any chance of ending this series tonight, they would have to come out in the third period with a renewed sense of ownership. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t the Lightning’s lackluster offense that caused the stoppage of momentum in the third period. In the early moments of the third period, a Detroit Red Wings fan felt it appropriate to toss an octopus on the ice.

On a side note here, we get it. Throwing octopi onto the ice is your thing; however, we’d like to point out a few obvious points here. First of all, this is not the Joe Louis Arena and no one here wants to be the one to scrape the nasty, dead octopus off the ice. Second of all. Where in the world were you keeping that poor, dead thing for the first forty minutes of the game? Wait…nevermind. We don’t want to know.

On the bright side, the mystery octopus to hit the ice didn’t really affect the Tampa Bay Lightning. In fact, the only thing it accomplished was stopping the rush of the Detroit Red Wings. At the same time, we still feel for the ice crew for having to clean the mess up. Anyhow, back to the more pressing news.

So, where were we? Oh, yeah…the third period. The Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to come out of their shell a little bit in the third period, actually making Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek work for his money for the first time tonight. The Lightning was presented with more than a few good scoring opportunities; however, the Red Wings continued to shut them down play after play.

Tampa Bay Lightning fans both at the Amalie Arena and around the Bolts Nation would sit on the edge of their seats anxious to see what the future held for the Tampa Bay Lightning. There was just 1:43 seconds left in the game when the Amalie Arena would explode with cheers. Tampa Bay Lightning center Alex Killorn would finally pierce the veil of Petr Mrazek and put the puck into the back of the net.

Now, the Tampa Bay Lightning fans would remain on the edge of their seats, but for a whole different reason. The Tampa Bay Lightning had just over a minute to hold on and close out this series. As the final buzzer sounded, every single Lightning fan in the Amalie Arena would rise to their feet and scream as the Tampa Bay Lightning would emerge victorious 1-0 and send the Detroit Red Wings home with a tee time reservation.

Before we go on to analyze the game, we should pause for a moment to recognize one of the NHL’s greatest players. There is a very good chance Tampa Bay Lightning fans and Detroit Red Wings fans alike has witnessed the last time Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk will take NHL ice. If this ends up being the case, thank you Datsyuk for everything you’ve done for the game of hockey.

Ok, back to the game now. This was by no means a perfect game. The Tampa Bay Lightning’s passing game was atrocious, the power play fell limp, and the Lightning’s offense left much to be desired. Thankfully, as the third period continued to progress, the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to find their groove and really start bringing the pressure.

As the Tampa Bay Lightning prepare for the next round, they need to work on their physicality and aggressiveness with the puck. Both the Florida Panthers, who led the Atlantic Division in the regular season, and the New York Islanders are going to be just as hungry for a win as the Tampa Bay Lightning are. The Bolts are going to have to bring their “A” game from start to finish.

Aside from Alex Killorn, who scored the one and only goal of the night, every single member of the Tampa Bay Lightning roster owes Ben Bishop a steak dinner after tonight’s performance. Had it not been for Bishop’s heroics in net tonight, we would have been looking at a very different game. Over and over again, Bishop would come up big and bail out the team. There is no denying Bishop earned the first star tonight.

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Right now, the New York Islanders and Florida Panthers are tied a two in the series. This means we’ll have to wait at least two more games to see who we will be playing in the next round. This will give the Lightning some time to rest and heal up some nagging injuries before hitting the ice for the next round. Whether the rest of the NHL is ready or not, the Tampa Bay Lightning are here to stay.