Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brayden Point picks up his first-ever multi-goal night in the National Hockey League on his 21st Birthday against the New York Rangers.
The Tampa Bay Lightning has been on both sides of the spectrum tonight. After starting out the night ridiculously slow, the Lightning has finally found the legs and find themselves in a good position to wrestle control of the game away from the New York Rangers.
The Lightning has a lot on the line tonight. In addition to a much-needed two points from tonight’s contest, the Lightning has an opportunity to prove the New York Rangers are a beatable team. Unfortunately, in the first two meetings of the season between these two teams, the Lightning has come out on the short end.
This is where we currently find ourselves. Time continues to tick off the clock and the closer we get to the buzzer sounding to end the third period, the more and more it looked like this contest would be headed to overtime. Thankfully, it seems as if the Lightning had other ideas.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Unlike the other two goals the Lightning has scored tonight, this time the play started on the other side of the ice. Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov would take possession of the puck in the Lightning’s defensive zone. From there, he would hand the puck off to Brayden Point, who already picked up a goal in the first period.
Point would use some of the tremendous speed he possesses to charge through the neutral zone with ease. Once into the offensive zone, the Point would pass effortlessly pass the puck across the ice to forward Ondrej Palat. Almost like the duo was playing a game of paddy cake, Palat would shuffle the puck back to Point.
Brayden Point made it look absolutely effortless as he puts his stick out and gets it directly on the puck and is able to redirect the puck past Rangers goaltender Antti Raanta and into the back of the net to take the lead for the first time in the game.
Fortunately, the first time would also be the last. Brayden Point’s goal in the third period would be all the Lightning would need to shut the door on the New York Rangers and prevent the Blueshirts from sweeping the season series over the Lightning. More importantly, the Lightning brings home another two points.
Brayden Point has gone from being an untested rookie to being one of the most vital pieces of the Lightning’s offensive core. In addition to his stick and puck handling skills, Brayden Point has become the player who sets up shop in front of the net and bides his time for the perfect set up or juicy rebound.
This is something the Lightning has been missing for quite some time. It has proven to be a tremendous asset to the team in recent weeks. At this point of the season, when every single point matters, the time for SportsCenter Highlight Reel goals goes out the window and it’s time to find the dirty areas.
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Thankfully, the Lightning has a good grasp on the situation at hand and has made tremendous strides towards turning things around and achieving their ultimate goal of making their way into postseason contention. If the Lightning can keep momentum on their sides tomorrow night against the Ottawa Senators, the Lightning may just see their dream come into fruition.