5 Takeaways From the Lightning’s Shootout Win in Philly

The Tampa Bay Lightning came back from 2-0 down in Philadelphia to earn a 4-3 shootout win over the Flyers on Thursday night. The win would mark the eighth straight victory by the Lightning on the Flyers’ home ice.

Despite losing a one goal lead in the final seconds of regulation, Tampa Bay was able to maintain their composure and come away with the two points on the road against a solid Flyers team. With the victory, the Lightning extended their point streak to nine games.

Let’s look at how this one played out.

1. Difficult First Period

The Lightning dominated much of the run of play in the opening frame. Several untimely turnovers created three odd man rushes for Philadelphia. Turnovers lead to a breakaway goal for Claude Giroux and a 3-on-1 goal for Travis Konecny to make it 2-0 after one. Both goals against came with Mikhail Sergachev and Cal Foote on the ice, who both ended up -2 on the night. While the Lightning played like the better team, Philadelphia was more opportunistic in converting on fewer opportunities. Here’s a look at the numbers after the first:

2. Powerplay Heating Up

Don’t look now, but the Lightning powerplay now has goals in three straight games. Brayden Point’s powerplay goal helped bring the Lightning back into the fight in the second period. The goal would cut the Philadelphia lead in half and finally reward Tampa Bay for their play in the early going. Later in the period, Mathieu Joseph would add his third goal of the season to even the score at 2-2. The powerplay conversion early in the period helped set the tone for the comeback.

3. Captain’s Trade Goals

Steven Stamkos gave the Lightning a lead late in the third period with just under two minutes to go in regulation. Stamkos fired from an impossible angle, just a few feet over the goal line in the corner, to beat Philadelphia’s Carter Hart. Stamkos’ goal felt like it would surely be the winner. Flyers captain Claude Giroux would tie things with under 10 seconds to go with a seeing eye shot following a faceoff win. Surrendering the lead late was a tough pill to swallow but the Lightning would have to keep their composure to earn back the extra point in overtime.

4. Out of Breath

The 3-on-3 overtime period was nonstop, literally. All five minutes of the overtime were played without a single stoppage. Both teams generated dangerous chances in the extra period as the play went back and forth. Each team had an opportunity to win the game on a breakaway, including Victor Hedman who had a rare chance in alone and never was able to get a handle on the puck. To say that both teams had their chances to win this one in the sudden death period would be an understatement as the action was end to end nonstop.

5. High Blocker

After overtime did not produce a winner, Tampa Bay would take care of business in a shootout. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped both Philadelphia shots against and the Lightning were able to convert on both of theirs. Stamkos and Point both scored on essentially the same shot. Both players came in and ripped shots high to the blocker side on Carter Hart. The Lightning shooters did their homework on Hart, and they went to school to earn the shootout victory on the road.