You’re welcome, Ottawa.
The Tampa Bay Lightning finally did it. For the first time since March 13th, 2012, the Bolts walked off the ice with a victory over the Boston Bruins. The ten-game losing streak is over. Today is a day that will go down in history.
This must be what Bruins fans felt like the last ten times these two teams played.
— Michael Stuart (@hockeybuzzstu) March 22, 2015Outshot 28-19, but TB held an advantage in Score Adjusted Fenwick for most of the game. Chart from @HockeyStatsCa. pic.twitter.com/skhaH9g7at
— Michael Stuart (@hockeybuzzstu) March 22, 2015Despite all that, the Lightning’s path to victory was far from smooth. That’s evidenced best by the fact that Patrice Bergeron opened the scoring just 33 seconds into the game. That made it 1-0 Bruins, and sent an ‘Oh no, here we go again…’ vibe through the rafters at Amalie Arena.
But, rather than roll over, the Bolts fought right back. Vladislav Namestnikov scored at 5:49 to tie the game at one, which really got the Lightning rolling. Assisted by Brenden Morrow and J.T. Brown on that goal, Namestnikov continues to impress. It’s hard to imagine that the team will send him down to Syracuse even when Cedric Paquette is healthy – he’s been that good.
Tampa’s real spark came about four minutes after Namestnikov scored, and it came in the form of a Steven Stamkos fight. After Brad Marchand nailed Valtteri Filppula with a very late hit, it was the captain who stepped up in place of the absent officials. He stormed Marchand and threw the diminutive forward to the ice with ease:
GIF: Here's the Marchand-Stamkos "fight" https://t.co/NOrBdMzlIN
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) March 22, 2015Tyler Johnson on NESN during 1st intermission regarding @RealStamkos91 dropping the gloves.."that's awesome. he's our leader."
— jonathan davis (@westcoasthky) March 22, 2015The Lightning carried that momentum into the second period, though Boston stepped up and made things more difficult. Even so, the Lightning refused to break down. The only goal scored in the middle frame was Jason Garrison’s fourth of the season, an absolute bomb from the point. That made it 4-1, and created quite a change in the atmosphere at Amalie Arena – numerous Boston fans mysteriously disappeared:
TROLOLOLOL pic.twitter.com/CcT9TiTavl
— The Thunder Alley (@BoltsGameDay) March 22, 2015With victory square in their sights, it seemed as though the Bolts lost focus in the third period. Boston controlled the bulk of the play, and generated numerous scoring opportunities. Ben Bishop made the saves he needed to make, and helped his team maintain their lead as a result. Zdeno Chara and Daniel Paille scored goals in the latter half of the period to make the game close, but Ondrej Palat sandwiched a goal of his own in between to ensure that his team was never in real danger. The result was a 5-3 victory for Tampa against the Boston Bruins – there’s something I haven’t typed in a long, long time.
I don’t know whether fans in Tampa wanted the Lightning to win tonight more than fans in Ottawa wanted the Lightning to win, but what I do know is that Boston is now in serious trouble. The Bruins sit only one point up on the Senators for the second wildcard spot in the East, and the Senators hold two games in hand on them. This game could be a killer for Boston. The ball is really in Ottawa's court now.
For the Lightning, it’s another two points in the standings and another step closer to home-ice advantage in the playoffs. All in all, this was a nice way to cap off a big weekend.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.