Before the season started, the Tampa Bay Lightning probably looked at the two early-season contests versus the Calgary Flames as “should win… events. After battling with the Flames in Alberta just a few weeks ago, however, the Bolts likely took last night’s rematch in Tampa a little more seriously. The result was an impressive 5-2 victory for the Lightning, which moves their record to a sparkling 9-3-1.
What was perhaps most impressive about Thursday’s win was the fact that the Lightning really took hold of things when the game was on the line. As evidenced by the following possession chart, courtesy of HockeyStats.ca, the Bolts made their move in that third period, even though they were already leading. That’s the opposite of score effects.
Chart from @HockeyStatsCa shows that the #TBLightning maintained possession in the third period, even with the lead. pic.twitter.com/6l5CLTQHdX
— Michael Stuart (@hockeybuzzstu) November 7, 2014The road to that dominant third period was a long and winding one. The scoring party started midway through the first period when Cedric Paquette scored his first (!) career goal to put the Bolts up 1-0. Able to utilize his size and strength in a notable way, Paquette made a power move to the front of the net and poked the puck past Jonas Hiller for the score. The sole assist on the goal was credited to Jonathan Drouin, who now has five points in eight career games.
That lead was shortlived, unfortunately, as Jiri Hudler scored to knot things up at one about five minutes later. While it was a big-league shot that beat the Lightning goaltender, Ben Bishop would probably like the Hudler goal back. Unscreened and with time to get set, Bishop simply missed the puck.
Paquette scored his second of the game and his career only one minute into the second period to put his Bolts back up by one. Assisted by Vladislav Namestnikov and Jason Garrison, Paquette found the puck in front of the net and popped it past Hiller for the tally. The real credit for the goal should probably go to Garrison, who made a very smart pinch to keep the play alive only seconds before the puck made its way to the back of the net.
Like good teams do, the Bolts added to their lead only moments later. On a shorthanded breakaway, Brian Boyle found his own rebound and knocked it past Hiller to put the Lightning up 3-1. The back-and-forth continued seconds later, though, as Sean Monahan scored a goal for the Flames on that same power play to cut the Lightning lead to one.
The game moved into that aforementioned third period with the score sitting at 3-2. That’s when things really shifted in the Lightning’s favor. Tyler Johnson’s second goal of the year, assisted by Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat, set the tone only 40 seconds into the frame. It put the Bolts up 4-2 and really shook the foundation of Calgary’s morale.
the triplets pic.twitter.com/xwMmO0Jspd
— Dom (@domhunt18) November 7, 2014As that possession chart included earlier in this blog shows, the Bolts continued to apply pressure as the final stanza moved along. Calgary wasn’t able to generate much, and Hiller had to make a number of saves just to keep his team in the contest. Tampa’s hard work was rewarded with about two minutes left on the clock when Valtteri Filppula sent the puck into an empty net for his third of the year. It all added up to a 5-2 victory, and two more points in the standings.
After dropping an embarrassing 7-2 decision in Minnesota on October 25th, the Lightning came right back and responded with four straight home wins. This Calgary victory, which capped off the perfect home stand, was an important one. The Bolts now sit tied atop the Atlantic Division standings with 19 points and one game in hand on the Montreal Canadiens. Things are certainly trending upwards in Bolts Nation.
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.