Tampa Bay Lightning Bounce Back In A Critical Game 2 Victory

The Tampa Bay Lightning made up for their Game 1 loss by bringing the intensity to the New York Islanders and bringing home a 4-1 win in Game 2.

The Tampa Bay Lightning came into tonight’s counter with their tails between their legs. After a really disappointing performance all around in Game 1 of Round 2 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Tampa Bay Lightning knew in their souls they would have to come into tonight’s matchup with a fire in their hearts and truly ready to play some of their best hockey of the season.

The Lightning knew what had to be done. All that was left now was for them to take the ice and get the job done. As expected, the Tampa Bay Lightning were forced to take the first penalty kill of the evening as Ondrej Palat was sent to the sin bin for two minutes for Interference in the offensive zone.

The good news is, the Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t allow this to deter their momentum. The Lightning penalty kill was able to hold strong and keep the Islanders away from the net, and more importantly the back of the net. In fact, the Lightning would go one step further and bring the pressure to the New York Islanders.

Just one minute after the penalty to Palat expired, Tampa Bay Lightning center Tyler Johnson would make his way through the offensive zone and make a beautiful shot on goal that would ultimately fly past Islander goaltender Thomas Greiss and into the back of the net to give the Lightning the early lead.

As the period progressed, the Tampa Bay Lightning would experience a little bit of déjà vu. First, Lightning alternate captain Ryan Callahan would be sent to the penalty box for two minutes for Holding against Kyle Okposo. Just under two minutes after the penalty expired, Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Jonathan Drouin would score his first goal of the postseason to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-0 lead over the Isles.

Unfortunately, an ill-timed penalty by the Tampa Bay Lightning would open the door for the Islanders to get on the board. This time, it would be Brian Boyle who would have a one-way ticket to the sin bin for Delay of Game for knocking the puck over the glass. While Boyle sat in the box, it was Islanders left wing Nikolay Kulemin who would tip in a shot from Thomas Hickey and beat Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop to bring the game within one.

The Tampa Bay Lighting would start the second period on the power play as Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic would make his way to the penalty box for Cross Checking Cedric Paquette as the buzzer sounded to end the first period. Unfortunately, the Lightning would not be able to capitalize on their opportunity.

The referees would make a number of calls over the course of the second period. It almost seemed as if the whistle never left their mouths. Surprisingly enough, one of these whistles turned out to be a clear advantage for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman was beautifully positioned in front of the net all the way back on the blueline. After receiving a pass from Lightning center Tyler Johnson, without hesitation, Hedman pulled back his stick and fired off a bomb from the blueline that would easily make its way past Griess and into the back of the net to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-1 lead over the Islanders.

These are the kind of shots the Tampa Bay Lightning needs to take more often. Whether it is players like Victor Hedman or Jason Garrison, both players have the hard shot and large presence to be successful with blueline bombs. This is something Garrison has proven over and over again this season.

The Tampa Bay Lighting would kick off the third period in a 4-on-4 situation followed by a brief power play, but nothing would come from the shot man advantage. The Lightning definitely made up a lot of ground in the second period, outshooting the Islanders 14-5. If the Lightning can continue that kind of pressure in the third period, they should have no issues finishing off this game with a much-needed victory.

As time continued to tick off the clock, the game took a very interesting turn. The New York Islanders seemed to take a page out of the Detroit Red Wings book and become a little more physically aggressive with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The good news is, the Lightning has seen their fair share of this kind of behavior this season and was more than prepared to handle the situation.

With just a little under four minutes left in the game, New York Islanders Head Coach Jack Capuano elected to pull goaltender Thomas Greiss to get the extra attacker out on the ice. This is always a difficult call to make. When you get into a 3-1 situation, you have little choice but to make the move; however, it hardly ever pays off.

Speaking of that, with just 2:18 seconds left on the clock. Tampa Bay Lightning center Tyler Johnson found himself with a clear lane all the way down in the Lightning’s defensive zone. What else could he do? Johnson took the shot. The puck sailed all the way down the ice and went straight into the empty net. This would give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-1 lead over the Islanders.

The referees would hand out a few more penalties in the final minute of the game. Just when you think the refs were going to catch a break, the fists would start to fly once again. This time, it wasn’t all on the Islanders. Both the Lightning and the Isles have to bear some of the blame for the final incident of the game. The good news is, none of these scuffles had any significant impact on the end of the game.

Well…other than the Lightning ending the game in a 5-on-3 situation to finish the game. As you can imagine, when the final buzzer sounded to end Game 2, the Tampa Bay Lightning would win Game 2 by the score of 4-1.

While things may have seemed bleak after the pathetic performance we saw from the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1, we knew in our hearts the Lightning were down but definitely not out. Every team in the NHL, whether you are the Chicago Blackhawks or the Tampa Bay Lightning has a bad game every now and then. The same thing can be said about goaltenders like Ben Bishop.

What really matters in situations like this one is not how many times they fall, but how many times they are able to get back up and make their presence known. This is exactly what the Tampa Bay Lightning achieved today. As the Bolts head into Islanders territory for the next two games, they are going to need to continue to play exactly as they did today. If they can accomplish this, we could be looking at a repeat of Round 1.

Right now, the onus is on the Tampa Bay Lightning to keep momentum on their side and bring some of the Lightning-charged offense to the New York Islanders in their house.

Next: 3 Things We Learned From Round 1

As we mentioned before, the Tampa Bay Lightning will be heading north to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to take on the New York Islanders in Games 3 and 4. The Lightning will have two days off before they have to make their way into the Barclays Center for Game 3 on Tuesday night. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 p.m. We don’t know about you, but we can’t wait to see what happens when the Bolts enter enemy territory.

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