Heading into Saturday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, the Tampa Bay Lightning had only won one game at the Joe Louis Arena in franchise history. Fast-forward just a few hours and the team now has two in that category thanks to a 3-2 overtime triumph. The win moves the Lightning’s record to 12-4-0, still good enough for first place in the Eastern Conference.
Things didn’t start out overly well for the Lightning on Saturday, as Henrik Zetterberg opened the scoring just less than four minutes into the contest. After an uncharacteristic Steven Stamkos giveaway, Zetterberg grabbed the puck and fired a well-placed snap shot past Ben Bishop. Rather than give up, however, the Lightning stuck to their game plan and battled back.
Ryan Malone knotted the game at one midway through the opening frame with a great individual effort. Stopped on his initial wrap-around attempt, Bugsy stuck with the play and roofed home his own rebound to tie the game at one. Matt Carle and Nate Thompson were credited with the assists on Malone’s second goal of the year, and first since mid-October.
Saturday’s ‘TSN Turning Point’ took place midway through the second period when the Lightning managed to kill of nearly seven full minutes of penalties. Down two men for about half a minute during that stretch, the Lightning didn’t bend or break. Ben Bishop came up big when needed, and the team’s skaters did a great job of limiting Red Wing chances. Only seconds after the Lightning returned to even strength, Steven Stamkos gave the team a 2-1 lead with his 14th of the season. That seven minute sequence ultimately defined what turned out to be a great battle between two Atlantic Division powerhouses.
While the Lightning looked really good for long stretches of the game, they weren’t able to close it out in regulation. With only minutes remaining in the third period, Zetterberg scored his second of the game to lock things at two. As he’s done so many times for the Wings, Zetterberg scored a big goal at a key time.
It would have been easy for the Lightning to fold after allowing a late goal, but they did the exact opposite. The Bolts took control of the overtime frame at the moment the puck dropped. Their hard work paid off about four minutes in when Teddy Purcell scored his fifth of the season to win the game.
The Lightning’s first game of the year against the Red Wings was a big one for so many reasons. Aside from the two points, the Lightning should also receive a huge confidence boost from beating what can only be described as a model organization.
As always, thanks for reading.