Tampa Bay Lightning remain undefeated at home with victory over St. Louis Blues

The Tampa Bay Lightning remain undefeated at home thus far this season as the Bolts handed a 2-1 defeat to the visiting St. Louis Blues.

Tonight was a very special night for the Tampa Bay Lightning and their fans. Despite the excitement surrounding the Lightning taking on the St. Louis Blues, it was what happened before the puck dropped which had goosebumps filling the arms of Lightning fans.

Before the start of tonight’s game, the Lightning honored the people who paved the way for the team we have today. The Lightning players and staff members who started it all. Obviously, this celebration set the stage for what was to come. The only question left is whether or not the team could feed off the energy filling the building.

The first twenty minutes of play between the Lightning and the Blues made for some rather compelling hockey. There was a lot of back and forth between these two surging teams, and there really was no clear winner. In fact, when the halfway point in the period approached, the shots on goal were tied up at five each.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Of course, this doesn’t mean the first period was without its fair share of stressors for Lightning fans. The Blues would get the first crack at the Power Play as Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman was sent to the sin bin for Interference against Blues forward Scottie Upshall.

The good news here is the Bolts were able to kill off the penalty and return to full strength unscathed. At the same time, this didn’t mean the Lightning were out of the woods just yet. There was an incredibly close call towards the end of the period which could’ve changed the course of the game if not for a certain player.

Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy found himself trapped on his back with a good portion of the net free and clear just waiting for the opponent to send the puck flying through. Thankfully, Lightning forward Brayden Point was in the right place at the right time and able to prevent a tragedy. In other words…crisis averted.

The Tampa Bay Lightning would need to be more aggressive with the puck in the second period if they wanted to emerge victoriously against the Blues. Thankfully, whatever was said in the locker room during intermission must’ve gotten the message across as this is exactly what happened in the second 20 minutes of play.

Through the halfway point in the second, the Lightning would outshoot the Blues 7-3 for a two-period total of 18-16 in favor of the Blues by a very narrow margin. The good news for Bolts fans is one of those shots on goal would be much more important than the one that came before.

At 8:20 in the second, Lightning forward Tyler Johnson would capitalize on the team’s Power Play opportunity and pick up his second goal of the season to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead over the Blues. Assists on the goal would go to defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and forward Brayden Point.

Speaking of Point, the assist on the Johnson goal would be his fifth of the season for a total of eight points thus far. It’s going to be interesting to see where Point ends up in terms of goals/assists/points at the conclusion of the season. He’s already in contention with some of the Lightning’s heavy hitters.

There was a moment in the second period which would essentially incense Lightning fans. Towards the end of the second, Scottie Upshall would use his stick to take a shot at Mikhail Sergachev. Almost immediately, Sergachev would head to the bench with a serious look of distress on his face.

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Of course, the referees called nothing despite the fact the cheap shot happened far away from the play. Here’s looking at you, Dan O’Rourke. In any case, we digress. On the bright side, after being looked at by trainers, Sergachev remained on the bench for the remainder of the period and seemed to be okay.

There are many ways the remainder of this game could’ve played out. On one hand, the Bolts could’ve played defensively for the remaining 20 minutes of play and came home with a one-goal victory over the Blues. At the same time, they could’ve come out of the tunnel with a fiery passion, prepared to increase their lead.

Thankfully for Lightning fans, the Bolts were prepared to offer the latter. Just after the six-minute mark in the third period, Lightning captain Steven Stamkos would get his stick on the puck in the neutral zone and send it flying into the Blues zone. This is where Nikita Kucherov would take control.

Kucherov took possession of the puck and wasted absolutely no time in setting up and sending the puck flying toward the net. The puck sailed right between the goaltending stick and right blocker of Blues netminder Jake Allen and into the back of the net to increase the Lightning’s lead to two.

There are truly no words which accurately describe how amazing Nikita Kucherov really is. Kucherov has scored a goal in each and every game the Lightning has played thus far this season. Needless to say, tonight’s goal was truly a thing of beauty.

Unfortunately, this would not be the end of the road for the St. Louis Blues. Despite a valiant effort by the Tampa Bay Lightning defense, Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko added another goal to his scoresheet this season as he cleanly beat Andrei Vasilevskiy at 16:37 in the third period.

There was a mere minute and a half left in the third when the Blues would pull their goaltender in order to get another attacker on the ice. The Lightning would score an empty-net goal; however, it would be taken away by the referees (shocker, right?) thanks to what they considered to be a high stick by Nikita Kucherov.

While it was pretty apparent Blues forward Brayden Schenn walked into Kucherov’ stick, a high stick is a high stick. It would’ve been nice if the refs had called the cheap shot by Upshall on Sergachev, but hey…who’s bitter here? (Apparently, this would be us.)

The Lightning would spend the final seconds of the game on the Penalty Kill, but the Bolts were able to hold strong and remain undefeated at the Amalie Arena in the four games they’ve played there so far this season. There is no denying the Lightning has seen their fair share of issues this season, but the Bolts have continued to find a way to overcome.

One of the biggest improvements tonight was the Lightning’s defensive play. Andrei Vasilevskiy finally got a break tonight and was forced to face 29 shots tonight, stopping all but one. Before tonight’s encounter with the Blues, Vasy had already faced 150 shots on goal, allowing a whopping 15 goals against.

The Bolts have learned a very valuable lesson this season. Unlike seasons past, the Lightning have moved away from trying to make their way into SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays of the Night, they have started to dig deep and pick up some ugly looking goals. Honestly, it’s not about how pretty the shot is, it’s about whether or not said shot beat the goaltender. Nikita Kucherov’ goal in the third was a prime example of this.

After tonight’s 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues, the Tampa Bay Lightning will have tomorrow off before they have to head to the Little Caesars Arena on Monday night to take on the Detroit Red Wings in their second road game of the season. Needless to say, this is going to be a heated matchup between two rivals.

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At the same time, if the Lightning continues to play the way they did tonight when they take on the Red Wings on Monday night, the Lightning will find themselves in a pretty good position in Motown. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:30 p.m. Until then, congrats to the Tampa Bay Lightning on yet another well-deserved victory.