Not all victories are pretty ones...
The Tampa Bay Lightning came into the BB&T Center on Monday night and won a high-energy, high-scoring battle against their in-state rivals, the Florida Panthers by a score of 8-5.
Period One
Holy moly was the first period of play between these two Florida teams action packed. Right from the get-go, both offenses were firing on all cylinders as six total shots were recorded before the game could even reach the three-minute mark.
At 2:48 into the opening period, Brayden Point put the Bolts on the board first, deflecting a Braydon Coburn shot for his sixth goal of the season. Both Coburn and Dan Girardi received assists on the on the goal.
Nikita Kucherov did not wait incredibly long in ensuring that the Lightning increased their lead to two goals, putting the puck in the back of the net for the 13th time this season. Steven Stamkos received the lone assist on the play, putting both players back in the point acquiring game after being held to nothing against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night.
Unfortunately, early leads are meant to be erased and the Panthers did their best to make sure that happened. Aaron Ekblad pushed the Cats in the right direction scoring his third goal of the season. Luckily Stamkos responded just over four minutes later with his fifth goal of the season, giving Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead. Hedman and Alex Killorn were awarded the assists on the tally.
A 3-1 lead would have been a perfect way for the Lightning to head into the locker room and it appeared as though that was going to happen. However, Aleksander Barkov had other ideas, scoring his fourth goal of the season making it 3-2 when the final horn of the period sounded.
Period Two
If there was any sort of worry that the scoring would calm down in the second period, that fear was eliminated quite early on. Jonathan Huberdeau capitalized off the early momentum created by Florida and tied up the game with his fifth goal of the season.
Fortunately for the Bolts, that game-tying goal appeared to light a fire underneath their bums and they poured on three consecutive goals to give them a 6-3 lead heading into the second intermission.
Ondrej Palat broke the tie with his fourth goal of the year off a beautiful pass from Point. Yanni Gourde would then score on a Lightning power play, which led to the removal of James Reimer from the game. Then, with under five minutes to play in the second, Vladislav Namestnikov made it 6-3 with his fifth goal of the season.
With Kucherov and Stamkos as linemates, Namestnikov's efforts have gone slightly under the radar. However, he is another Bolt that is playing great early on in the 2017-18 season.
After the Panthers were able to tie the game up early in the second, the Lightning did a good job taking the life out of the home team. Their three goals killed any sort of confidence Florida had and gave Tampa Bay the upper hand going into the final period of play.
Period Three
With one foot pressing down on their proverbial throat, the Panthers were not just going to cower and give the game away to the Lightning in the third period. Jamie McGinn tried to bring the momentum back to Florida's side when he scored his third goal of the year just over five minutes into the final period of play.
Although it gave the Panthers some hope, Stamkos made sure he took it away with his second goal of the night giving the Lightning a 7-4 lead. Both Namestnikov and Jake Dotchin recorded assists on the play.
Once again, the Bolts were successful in taking away any momentum and energy the Panthers may have acquired and bring things back in their favor. Tampa Bay's ability to keep the pressure on throughout the game is one of the reasons they are the best team's in the entire National Hockey League.
Now, just in case anyone thought the Bolts were going to be able to maintain the three-goal lead, the Panthers made sure that did not happen, again. Evgenii Dadonov kept the Bolts on their toes with his sixth goal of the year, shrinking Tampa's lead to 7-5.
The Lightning would get the empty-netter in the last minute, compliments of Anton Stralman, to give them the 8-5 victory.
No team wants to surrender five goals to the opposition. However, if you're going to do it, it will be a little easier to swallow if you can score more. The Lightning will want to fix some things before their next game against the Rangers on Thursday night in New York. Still, they will be content will the win and happy to still be sitting at the top of the NHL standings.