Tampa Bay Lightning Recap: Amazing Shootout Helps Bolts Stun Sabres

Some amazing stick-handling moves from Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov helps the Lightning stun the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 in the shootout.

The Tampa Bay Lightning was faced with a rather interesting challenge tonight at the KeyBank Center. The Lightning faced off with their Divisional rivals, the Buffalo Sabres. This may not seem like much of a challenge at face value, but when you consider what was on the line here; things come into a much different view.

Coming into tonight’s challenge, the Tampa Bay Lightning are a mere one point ahead of the Buffalo Sabres in the standings. In other words, anything other than a victory for the Bolts would result in a shift in the landscape in the Eastern Conference.

An overtime win would keep the Sabres within two points of the Bolts while a loss would result in the Sabres leapfrogging the Lightning and moving one step closer to a postseason position. It would be an incredibly hard-fought game, but the Tampa Bay Lightning would make it happen when all was said and done.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Much like the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, the Tampa Bay Lightning got off to a fairly good start. They were keeping possession of the puck and being aggressive on both sides of the ice. Unfortunately, as time went on this would start to dwindle away.

After dominating the first four to five minutes of the game, the Sabres quickly took control of the game. The Lightning struggled for a good portion of the period to keep the puck out of their zone. Eventually, this would come to bite them in the end.

There were less than 30 seconds left in the period when Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov would make his way to the sin bin for Hooking against Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe. Less than 10 seconds into the Power Play, Sabres forward Ryan O’Reilly would capitalize on the situation and open up the scoring.

This is definitely not a position a team like the Tampa Bay Lightning wants to find themselves at the conclusion of the first period of play, but this may have been a blessing in disguise for the Bolts. It gave them time to shake off the first 20 minutes of play and attempt to get their heads back into the game.

Thankfully, the intermission proved to be exactly what the team needed. Just 2:37 seconds into the second period and Tyler Johnson would get a piece of a shot from Victor Hedman and send the puck flying past Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner to tie things up for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Unlike the first 20 minutes of play, the Lightning would actually outshoot the Sabres 10-9 for a two-period total of 24-18. The Lightning still had some work left to do, but at the very least they were headed in the right direction heading into the third period of play.

The third period was a rather intense 20 minutes of play. Both the Lightning and the Sabres are desperate for points as they make their way into the final games of the 2016-17 regular season. The Lightning would attempt to rally and shut the game down in regulation, but it simply wasn’t meant to be.

Adding insult to injury, the Lightning would enter the overtime period on the penalty kill for the third time of the night. With just 45 seconds left in the third period, Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman would be sent to the sin bin for two minutes for Interference against Marcus Foligno.

While we would love to harp on Stralman for taking a penalty this late in the game, we have to give him a pass on this one. Had Stralman not made the decision to take the penalty and essentially “take one for the team,” the Lightning may have seen their two points disappear in regulation. Thankfully, this didn’t come to pass.

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Despite its necessity, the Lightning still found themselves at a disadvantage heading into the overtime period. For a minute and 15 seconds, the Lightning would have to fight off a 4-on-3 scenario.

Ironically enough, not long after the Lightning would kill off the remainder of the Stralman penalty, they would find themselves with a Power Play of their own. This would come as a result of Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons interfering with Tyler Johnson. Unfortunately, the Lightning wasn’t able to capitalize.

When the final buzzer sounded, these two teams would be headed to a shootout. As any Tampa Bay Lightning fan will attest to, the shootout is not exactly a favorite destination of the Bolts Nation.

Rather than a tooth and nail fight between two teams, the shootout depends solely on the goaltender and the shooter’s ability to read one another. While these are definitely valuable skills to have, the shootout is a heart-attack inducing time for hockey fans.

First up for the Buffalo Sabres would be Sam Reinhart. Thankfully, Andrei Vasilevskiy was able to shut the door on him. Next up, Brayden Point would take a run at Robin Lehner. Unfortunately for Lehner, things would not end as well as they did for Vasilevskiy.

Buffalo would take their second shot of the shootout with a solid run from Jack Eichel. Much to the cardiological health of Tampa Bay Lightning fans all over the Bolts Nation, Vasilevskiy would put the brakes on Eichel as well.

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Now, the Lightning found themselves in a defining moment. If the Bolts could sink the next shot, they would walk away from the game with a much-needed two points. Miss and the shootout will head back to the sticks of the Buffalo Sabres; something Lightning fans dreaded with all their souls.

Nikita Kucherov would make his way towards the Sabres net. Initially, this would look like any other shootout kind of play. Then…it happened. Nikita Kucherov made the most amazing move Lightning fans had ever seen. Kucherov would take the shot, but then motion his stick over the top of the puck like he was going to stickhandle it.

The thing is, Kucherov already had his target locked in with the initial movement.

While Lehner followed Kucherov’ stick, the puck continued to make its way toward the back of the net. The lamp would light and the Tampa Bay Lightning would head home with a much-needed two points in hand.

Tonight’s encounter was far from the perfect game. There were many points in the game when the Tampa Bay Lightning let off the gas and allowed the Buffalo Sabres to control the pace of the game. As the Lightning heads home for a three-game homestand, they have some really tough teams on the schedule.

Next up, the Lightning will face off with goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers. The New York Rangers currently hold the first of two Wild Card Spots in the Eastern Conference. Much like tonight’s encounter with the Sabres, the Rangers present yet another must-win situation.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have the tools necessary to get the job done and make their way towards a postseason spot. It’s going to take some hard work heading into the final 18 games of the regular season, but the Lightning has overcome adversity before. There’s nothing holding them back from doing it again.