Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman evened things up for the Bolts as they battled the Arizona Coyotes in the first period.
The Tampa Bay Lightning started out tonight’s contest under rather disconcerting terms. Under five minutes into the game, a team whose playoff hopes has already dissipated into nothingness and are on the back half of a back-to-back series, would catch the Lightning off guard and open up the scoring.
Now, the Lightning would be left with 55 minutes to right the ship and get things back on track. This may seem like a lot of time to get the job done, but in a game where things can change in the blink of an eye, time can be your best friend or your mortal enemy. Thankfully, at least in this matter, time proved to be a bit of a friend.
The Tampa Bay Lightning put a fair amount of pressure on the Coyotes during the first period of play. Unfortunately for the Bolts, the Arizona Coyotes put the same amount of pressure on the Lightning in the first 20 minutes of play. A bit of the wind disappeared from the sails of the Lightning after the Coyotes goal, but it wasn’t quite enough to put an end to their forward movement.
Tampa Bay Lightning
In fact, things took a decide turn for the better just before the halfway point in the first period. Everything got started in the Lightning’s defensive zone. Andrei Vasilevskiy came up with a big save on Coyotes forward Radim Vrbata. When everything shook out, it would be Nikita Kucherov who would get control of the puck.
As Kucherov and company raced towards the other side of the ice, he passed the puck forward to Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. Hedman was able to use his long reach and incredibly fast speed to outskate Coyotes defenseman Alex Goligoski and make his way to the front of the net.
Without ever breaking his stride, Hedman was able to beat Coyotes netminder Louis Domingue and put the puck in the back of the net. Hedman’s tally would be his 15th goal of the season and yet another accomplishment to add to his record-setting season.
Victor Hedman has always been an incredible asset to the Tampa Bay Lightning and one of the leading contributors to the team’s success. The amazing thing about this is, the longer he has been with the team, the more he has grown and the more his value to the team has risen exponentially.
Hedman is not only the strongest defenseman on the team, but he is a solid two-way defenseman. As just about any hockey fan knows, these are mythical creatures who are incredibly hard to come by. In other words, Hedman is a sparkly unicorn who brightens the day of Bolts fans everywhere. (Yes, we just went there.)
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What is even more amazing than everything we’ve mentioned up until this point? Well…this would be the fact our Swedish Superman is under contract with the Lightning for another eight seasons. This means, barring some unholy act of the hockey gods, Hedman will be wearing Lightning blue until the 2024-25 season.
Ok…so back to the task at hand. The Tampa Bay Lightning are on the right track, but there is still work to be done. If the Lightning wants to emerge victoriously over the Arizona Coyotes tonight and break the dark spell that has been plaguing the team’s current home stand, they are going to have to continue putting points on the board.
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There is plenty of time to get the job done, but as we have always said, “why put off until later the things you can take care of now.” In other words, time is of the essence and if the Lightning are going to make a move, the time is well upon them. Here’s hoping the team can get the job done.