Back home after a moderately successful three game road trip, the Tampa Bay Lightning took to the ice with the Nashville Predators on Thursday and ultimately walked away from the Tampa Bay Times Forum with a convincing 4-2 victory. Propped up by offensive contributions from key sources and Anders Lindback’s best performance of the season, the Bolts managed to rack up yet another win against a Western Conference foe. The ‘W’ moves the team’s record to 21-11-3, good enough for third place in the Eastern Conference.
The story making headlines prior to puck drop on Thursday was the return of Victor Hedman, who had been sidelined with injury since early December. It didn’t take the big man long to make an impact on the score sheet. Just over two minutes in, Hedman fed the puck to Alex Killorn who proceeded to show incredible patience before wristing the puck past Carter Hutton to give the Bolts a 1-0 lead. In addition to Hedman, Killorn’s eighth of the season was assisted by JP Cote. Cote was signed to a two-year, two-way deal just yesterday; he was very solid in his debut.
A dominant first half of the first period gave way to a lackluster second half of the first period for the Lightning. Anders Lindback was forced to come up with a number of key saves as the Predators pushed for the equalizer. His solid play allowed the skaters in front of him to generate an insurance marker with only 54 seconds remaining in the opening frame. On the power-play, Marty St. Louis ripped home his 14th goal of the year to extend the Lightning lead to 2-0. Sami Salo and Alex Killorn were credited with assists.
Up 2-0 after one period of play, Tampa looked poised to run away with things as the game moved into the second period. That was until the special teams battle allowed the Predators to jump right back into the thick of things. With the Lightning down a man thanks to a too-many-men call, Craig Smith pounced on a bouncing puck and sent it past Lindback to pull the Preds to within one. His goal, which came at the 6:36 mark of the second, wasn’t officially a power-play marker, as Teddy Purcell had just stepped out of the box when the puck crossed the goal line.
The second period was ultimately defined by a good back-and-forth battle. Less than two minutes after Smith scored, Teddy Purcell fired home his eighth of the season to restore the Lightning’s two goal lead; Matt Carle and Valtteri Filppula tallied the assists. Before the second period’s buzzer rang, Craig Smith (again) and Richard Panik traded goals to give the Bolts the 4-2 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
As much as the Predators probably wanted to press during the third period, the Lightning made things incredibly difficult for them. Rather than sit back and protect their two goal lead, the Bolts kept pushing. Jon Cooper and his staff have to be pleased with the effort level and willingness to keep battling as the night moved along. From this fan’s perspective, the third period was a treat to watch.
All in all, Thursday’s victory was a good one for the hometown Tampa Bay Lightning. While their penalty killing troubles ultimately made the path to victory more difficult than it probably had to be, the team should be more than happy with the two points. Anders Lindback played well. Key offensive players produced. It’s hard to ask for much more on any given night.
As always, thanks for reading.