Coming off a hard-fought win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning knew they needed a full team effort against the practically unbeatable Boston Bruins if they wanted a chance to win Thursday night.
They got that in spades. From Corey Perry fighting Connor Clifton early to Mikhail Sergachev sticking up for Andrei Vasilevskiy after Taylor Hall bowled over the Lightning goaltender to Ross Colton and Brandon Hagel being pesky enough to throw the Bruins off their game a tad, this game had a playoff-style feel to it.
Both teams’ top guns came to play, but the Lightning got the edge in this one, 3-2. The game-winning goal came in the third period, courtesy of defenseman Victor Hedman who’s been having a down season so far in terms of offensive production.
Nikita Kucherov started the play, part of a three-point night that saw him overtake Bruins winger David Pastrnak for third place in the league’s scoring race.
His precise pass to Brayden Point, combined with Point’s speed, caused chaos around the net. In a mess, a Bruins defenseman lost their balance and fell onto the legs of netminder Linus Ullmark. The puck squirted free and onto Hedman’s stick which had an open side of the net to fire home the goal that gave the Bolts a franchise-tying 11th straight victory at home.
Not to be outdone, captain Steven Stamkos extended his point streak to 10 games with a clean face-off win to Kucherov seconds into the final frame that briefly made it 2-1.
Pavel Zacha tied the game at two shortly after that. The assists were credited to Pastrnak and David Krejci.
Special teams were a factor in this game too. Brandon Hagel netted a power play goal in the first period to give the Lightning an early 1-0 lead.
Against a Boston team that plays hard no matter the score, there’s little chance they won’t come back when given enough time. They certainly did that Thursday night, with Brad Marchand answering Hagel’s tally to tie things at one.
The goaltenders both played their butts off, but what’s new when the two best in the Atlantic Division go head-to-head? Vasilevskiy made 37 saves on 39 shots, plus got an excellent assist from Anthony Cirelli, who swept the puck off the goal line to preserve a one-goal lead at the time.
Ullmark, meanwhile, made 32 saves on 35 shots and got some help from the goalpost.
For the Lightning, this win was huge in terms of confidence. They now know that they can beat the Bruins. It takes a lot of sacrifices, and the whole team commits to playing a certain game style, but their experience in these games might prove pivotal come playoffs.
The win also kept the Lightning within striking distance of the Toronto Maple Leafs for second in the Atlantic Division. Now only five points back and with two games in hand, they can grab home ice for the first round if they continue winning. That could be big, especially given the team’s early season struggles on the road and winning record at Amalie Arena.
Looking ahead, the Lightning has one more game before the All-Star break. They host another Western Conference playoff team, the Los Angeles Kings, for a Gasparilla pirate-themed matchup Saturday night, January 28. Puck drops at 7 pm EST.
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