Once again, the Tampa Bay Lightning demonstrated that they are the top dogs in the National Hockey League early on in the 2017-18 season with a win against the Detroit Red Wings at home on Thursday night.
The 9-1-1 Bolts pushed their winning streak to four games with the 3-2 victory. In addition, they have now acquired points in nine consecutive games and ten of their first 11.
In Thursday night's contest, it was all about scoring on Tampa Bay power plays, for both teams. Yes, you read that correctly. Both the Lightning and the Red Wings managed to score goals on Bolts' man-advantage opportunities.
Detroit was actually the first team to do so. Frans Nielsen was able to generate a breakaway shorthanded which resulted in his third goal of the season. Although the Red Wings got the early 1-0 lead, that was the only time they were ahead. Nikita Kucherov made sure to right the ship two minutes later on another Lightning power play, scoring his league-leading 12th goal of the season.
Goal-scoring would then go away for a while as the second period would not see any. Steven Stamkos would then score on yet another Lightning power play for his fourth goal of the season. Kucherov would get an assist, bringing his assist total to seven on the year.
For a while, it seemed like the game would end 2-1. However, Brayden Point would bring the Lightning lead to 3-1 with just under three minutes left in the third period. The action then really started to pick up as the Red Wings were then able to cut the lead in half with a power-play goal by Nielsen. Detroit may not have been able to do enough to get a victory but having a player score a short-handed and power play goal is still pretty cool.
The Lightning have now won six home games in a row and continue to sit at the top of the NHL standings. Their play may not always be pretty but they are doing what it takes to continue winning.
Tampa Bay will now get set to host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night at AMALIE Arena. The Ducks will be looking to have a bounce-back game after being absolutely demolished by the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.