Tampa Bay Lightning extend win streak to 3 with victory over Carolina Hurricanes

The Tampa Bay Lightning adds two points to their league-leading totals with a 5-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Tampa Bay Lightning came into tonight’s encounter with the Carolina Hurricanes with a lot resting on their shoulders. While it is still very early in the season to be jockeying for position, the Lightning currently leads not only the Atlantic Division, but the entirety of the National Hockey League.

In the nine games the Bolts have played this season, they have only registered two losses, one of which came in a shootout against the New Jersey Devils. Their 7-1-1 record includes two tremendous victories over the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In addition to all of this, the Tampa Bay Lightning currently hold the number one position in three of the four main categories in the NHL; Nikita Kucherov (Goals) Steven Stamkos (Points) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (Wins). Needless to say, the Lightning has a lot to lose right now.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Surprisingly enough, the first period between the Bolts and the Canes was rather uneventful. Through the first 10 minutes of play, the Shots on Goal were a mere 5-4 in favor of the Hurricanes. The one thing tilting the advantage towards the Hurricanes is the fact the Lightning gave up two man-advantage opportunities.

The Lightning has done fairly well neutralizing their opponents on the Penalty Kill, but this doesn’t mean the Bolts should continue to offer up opportunities to their opponents. Eventually, they are going to come up against the opponent who is ready to pounce and they’ll find themselves chasing their tails.

At the same time, the Lightning have also thrived on the Power Play. In fact, it was the Lightning’s Power Play unit which afforded the team the early lead in the first period. The Bolts found themselves with the man-advantage late in the first period. With 35 seconds left in the first period, Tyler Johnson picked up his fourth goal of the season to elevate the Bolts to a 1-0 lead over the Hurricanes.

The Lightning seemed to start off the second period on a high note; however, the Lightning’s momentum was brought to an abrupt halt 20 seconds into the period as Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman was sent to the sin bin for two minutes for Slashing. The good news here is the Bolts were able to successfully kill the penalty.

The second period seemed to play out a lot like the first period of play. There was a lot of back and forth (and penalties) between these two teams; however, just before the halfway point in the period the Lightning would strike once again and extend their stronghold over the Hurricanes.

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev would score a sweet goal (his fourth of the season) off a tremendous pass from captain Steven Stamkos. Tyler Johnson, who scored the Power Play goal in the first period, would also pick up an assist on Sergachev’s second period tally.

Towards the end of the second, things would really start to heat up between the Bolts and Canes. A large scrum would start along the boards. Thankfully, both teams would have players sent to the sin bin as a result. Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman and Canes forward Justin Williams would be sent to the box for Roughing, creating a 4-on-4 situation.

Both sides would survive the 4-on-4 situation and return to full strength. When the buzzer would sound to end the second period of play, the Lightning would lead the Hurricanes 2-0. This time around the Lightning and Canes would be tied at 10 apiece when it came to Shots on Goal for a two-period total of 20-18 Bolts.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had done well in the first two periods of play; however, one of their biggest downfalls has been getting comfortable in their leads and letting off the gas. This is something the Bolts simply could not do if they wanted to continue to be successful, not just against the Canes, but the remainder of the season.

History seemed to repeat itself for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the third period, and not in a good way. Just 33 seconds into the third period, the Lightning was headed to the Penalty Kill once again. Anyone else getting a sense of déjà vu here? This time, it would be Stamkos who was sent to the sin bin for Interference.

Once again, the Lightning was able to successfully kill the penalty. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before the Lightning would falter and allow the Hurricanes to get on the board. Around a minute after the successful Lightning Penalty Kill, the Hurricanes would beat Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy on the stick side with a goal from Canes defenseman Jaccob Slavin.

In the minutes that followed, Andrei Vasilevskiy would find himself under some intense pressure. Now that the momentum had shifted their direction, the Hurricanes were much more aggressive with the puck and really bringing the pressure to Vasilevskiy. Thankfully, Vasilevskiy was able to hold strong and keep the puck out of the back of the net.

There was a point towards the middle of the third when things would heat up on the ice once again. Mikhail Sergachev would be on the business end of a shove, which would nearly run him right into Vasilevskiy. Needless to say, Sergachev was having none of this.

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The good news here is he didn’t earn himself a penalty in the process. Considering there was a one-goal difference between these two teams, the Bolts didn’t need to be handing out man-advantage opportunities. This was a road the Bolts had already travelled four times in tonight’s encounter.

The Hurricanes made an interesting move in the final three minutes of the third period. With a mere one-goal deficit, the Canes elected to pull goaltender Scott Darling. As has become the norm for this situation, it seemed to backfire on the Canes. At 17:27 in the third, Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov would pick up his fourth goal of the season with an empty-netter.

Just when you think things couldn’t possibly get more stressful for the Hurricanes and their fans, well…it does. Darling was once again called to the bench and once again the Lightning hit the empty net. This time it was alternate captain Ryan Callahan who would effortlessly tap the puck into the empty net.

So…one would naturally think the onslaught would come to a close here. Nope…the Tampa Bay Lightning had something different in mind. Steven Stamkos would take the puck behind the net where he would send it flying forward to his newly-found partner-in-crime Nikita Kucherov, who would beat Darling and increase the Lightning’s lead over the Hurricanes to four.

When the final buzzer would sound, the Tampa Bay Lightning would add another two points to their league-leading totals with a 5-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. There are some who would consider this game a blowout; however, the truth of the matter would be something much different.

The Lightning seemed to pull back a little in the opening minutes of the third period; however, as the time continued to tick off the clock and the period would near its close, the Lightning would turn on the afterburners and bring this game to a definitive close.

We would be remiss in our duties if we didn’t mention the excellent performance of Andrei Vasilevskiy in tonight’s encounter. Vasy would make 31 saves on 32 shots against. This include a number of key saves which would truly keep the Lightning alive in the earlier portions of the game.

Also stepping up would be Steven Stamkos. Stammer would pick up two assist in tonight’s encounter; one on Sergachev’s goal in the second and the other on Kucherov’s tally in the last minute of the third period.

Tonight’s victory sets a new franchise record for the Bolts. Adding another two points to their totals tonight gives the Lightning a total of 17 points in just 10 games. The previous record has been in place since the 2002-03 season with 16 points.

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The Bolts need to keep the electricity they created in tonight’s encounter with the Hurricanes charged up and ready to go again on Thursday night when they head back to the Amalie Arena to take on their Atlantic Division rivals, the Detroit Red Wings. The Bolts came out on top in their first encounter with the Wings. Here’s hoping the Lightning keeps this trend rolling on Thursday.