Buoyed by a three point outing from Victor Hedman, the Tampa Bay Lightning shut down the Philadelphia Flyers en route to a 4-2 victory on Wednesday night. The win, which moves the team’s record to 16-8-1, is Tampa’s seventh “W” in a row on home ice at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

The Lightning came out of the gate flying and dominated the Flyers right from puck drop. Just as they’ve done a number of times this season on home ice, the Bolts skated hard, played hard, and generated scoring chances. In the first frame alone, Tampa fired 14 shots at Ray Emery. The big story in the opening period, however, was Anders Lindback’s big save on a Wayne Simmonds penalty shot. With his team outplaying the Flyers by a wide margin at the time, Lindback stopped what could have been a crushing blow. While not perfect or busy on Wednesday, the Swedish goaltender gave his team a chance to win and made the saves he needed to make.

It wasn’t until the second period that the Lightning’s hard work paid off. After failing to convert on a couple fantastic opportunities, Tampa finally broke through when Victor Hedman fired a shot home from a bad angle to give his team a 1-0 lead. A goal that Emery would most certainly like back, Hedman’s first of two on the night was assisted by Nate Thompson and Tyler Johnson.

Only three minutes later, with the Flyers on the power-play, Ondrej Palat tallied his fourth goal of the year to extend the Lightning lead to two. The short-handed marker came as a result of Victor Hedman’s smart play and keen offensive instincts. After carrying the puck up ice from his own zone, Hedman sent a weak shot in on Emery and created a juicy rebound for Palat to jump on. The 2011 7th rounder, who has really been Mr. Everything for the Lightning this year, was rightfully rewarded.

Special teams came through for Tampa once again just five minutes into the third period when Victor Hedman scored his sixth of the season (a new career high) on the power-play. Perched in the slot, Hedman wired a quick wrist shot past Emery to give the Lightning a 3-0 lead they so desperately needed. Assists on Hedman’s second of the night were credited to Teddy Purcell and Valtteri Filppula. Now on pace for nearly 50 points this season, Hedman has truly evolved into a great top-pairing defender. He can truly do it all.

On a night that saw him return to the Tampa Bay Times Forum for the first time since being bought out in the summer, it was only fitting that Vincent Lecavalier scored a goal. With his Flyers on the power-play and about two minutes left on the clock, Lecavalier slapped home his ninth goal of the year to pull his team to within two. Not willing to go down without a fight, Philadelphia scored a second goal only moments later. Mark Streit wound up from the point and sent the puck past Lindback to make the score 3-2. Even so, it’s hard to complain about the big goaltender’s performance.

Just as everyone in Bolts Nation started to get nervous, Tyler Johnson scored an empty net goal to seal the deal on the Lightning’s 4-2 victory. Despite allowing the Flyers to battle back, Tampa played a solid game on Wednesday night. Strong goaltending from Lindback and an all-star/Olympic-caliber performance from Victor Hedman were ultimately enough to propel the Bolts to victory.

As always, thanks for reading.

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