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Injuries have an interesting way of presenting opportunities to the unlikeliest of faces.
But for everybody in the Tampa Bay Lightning organization, even with the big league club decimated by injuries to high-end talents, those opportunities are earned, not given. Even if you’re a former third overall pick of the club, as Jonathan Drouin learned when his nine-game highlight reel of a return to the Syracuse Crunch paved the way for an NHL recall, and game-winning goal scored in his first NHL game since Dec. 30, a 3-2 Lightning win over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
On the board first behind Erik Condra’s sixth goal of the season, scored on a second chance effort, and good for his sixth marker of the season, the story of the first was Tampa’s defensive effort.
The Lightning, even down the Victor Hedman-Anton Stralman pairing, kept the Devs off the shot board for nearly 15 minutes in a period that ended with a 10-to-3 shot advantage that favored the Bolts. And nearly all of those 10 shots came with a prime offensive scoring chance for the Lightning, too.
New Jersey came through with a game-tying goal on Sergey Kalinin’s redirect off his knee and through Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop at 7:16 of the second period.
The stalemate lasted just 7:29, though, as it would be Cedric Paquette that capitalized on a beautiful dish from Valtteri Filppula for a one-timer, and his sixth goal of the year.
Then came Drouin.
In search of the invaluable putaway goal, No. 27 broke into the zone behind Vladdy Namestnikov, took the dropback pass from the Russian forward, and potted his first NHL goal since Dec. 2 with a five-hole snipe that beat netminder Keith Kinkaid 3:50 into the third period.
The play had a little bit of everything -- a dropped stick from New Jersey captain Andy Greene really opened things up for the high-flying Bolts -- but it was the initial pass off the boards from Drouin to Namestnikov that really opened the play up for the Lightning into the attacking zone.
Kalinin struck again for the Devils to bring the club back within one, but an empty-net goal from Filppula scored with just 47 seconds left in the third period proved to be enough for the Bolts on this night.
Bishop, who stopped 16-of-18 shots on the nights, secured his 35th victory of the season.
Random thoughts and notes
- Drouin. Drouin. Drouin. What a night, huh? OK, maybe I’m blowing a one-goal game slightly out of proportion, but did you honestly think you’d see this? Because I definitely did not. I thought the days of Drouin the Lightning were long over, and that his Dec. 30 game against the New York Rangers would go down as his final game in a Bolts sweater. It just felt as if there was too much bad blood, too much animosity, and once Drouin opted to go back home to Quebec, it seemed like it was officially over.
But Drouin worked his tail off for the Crunch upon his return from his hiatus/suspension/whatever-you-wanna-call-it, and undoubtedly earned this call to the NHL.
He led the team with four shots on goal, and really seemed to get better as the game went on.
And without Ryan Callahan and Steven Stamkos, the Bolts need that, and they’ll take it.
- A little bit more on Drouin: I really liked Drouin on a line with Namestnikov and Alex Killorn. Deep down, I was slightly worried that Jon Cooper would ease Drouin back into the NHL mix with a spot on a fourth line with Condra and Brian Boyle or something that’d equate to a nine-minute night, and that we’d be left to ask, “Well, what’s the point of even calling him up?… But Cooper plugged the uber-talented winger next to what I’d consider the Bolts’ second-best center option in Namestnikov (at least with Stamkos on the shelf and Cooper reuniting the Triplets Line in No. 91’s absence).
- Defenseman Matt Taormina or comedian Louis CK?
Matt Taormina or Louis CK? pic.twitter.com/fFVcPDUmGX
— Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) April 8, 2016
- With the victory and Detroit’s loss, the Lightning have locked themselves into the No. 2 spot in the Atlantic Division, which means that they will hold home-ice advantage for their first-round series against the Red Wings or Boston Bruins. Which team do you think the Bolts want to go against?
Up next
The Bolts will conclude their regular season with a trip to Montreal to take on the Habs. This game means literally nothing for the Bolts, so it’s really just about staying healthy.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.