The Tampa Bay Lightning are now one win away from clinching home ice advantage for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Thanks to a big 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night, the Bolts jumped ahead of the Montreal Canadiens and now sit second in the Atlantic Division.
It’s been said time and time again that this Lightning team has shown itself to be one capable of dealing with adversity. That quality was put to the test once again, as the Lightning lost both Victor Hedman and Ondrej Palat to injuries over the course of play on Friday. Already without Ben Bishop and Valtteri Filppula, the Bolts persevered and pushed towards a third straight victory.
To overcome that sort of adversity takes some help. Tampa got help in the form of one Kristers Gudlevskis, their fifth round pick from 2013. The Latvian goaltender, who nearly beat Canada at the Olympics, became just the first player in history to suit up for games in the ECHL, AHL, NHL, and Olympic Games all in one year. He’s been on quite the run. Gudlevskis stopped 36 of the 38 shots fired his way, and didn’t look out of place at all. In fact, he was probably the best player on the ice for the home team.
Surprisingly, you could make an argument that the best goaltending performances post-Olympics have been in the past two games. With MVP goaltender Ben Bishop out thanks to an upper-body injury, both Anders Lindback and Gudlevskis have stepped up in a big way. It leads this blogger to believe that the Bolts may just have a chance against the Canadiens in round one.
After a scoreless first period, Ondrej Palat got the Lightning on the board at the 3:55 mark of the second period with his 23rd of the year. The 1-0 goal came as Palat found the loose puck in the slot and popped it past Curtis McElhinney with a quick wrist shot. Now with 59 points through 81 games, Palat certainly has to be in the Calder Trophy discussion. Yes, Nathan MacKinnon has been great. Has he been that much better than Palat though? I don’t think so.
Columbus knotted the game up at one with a power play goal of their own, as Boone Jenner tipped home his 16th of the year at the 13:46 mark. From that point on, however, the second period turned into the Eric Brewer show. After scoring on Thursday versus Philadelphia, Brewer decided that he wanted more. Before the second buzzer rang, he had notched his 3rd and 4th goals of the year. Brew-Orr, as he’s now affectionately known, had his first goal assisted by Cedric Paquette, who was playing in his first NHL game. There was some storybook stuff going on at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Friday night.
David Savard made things interesting with just over three minutes left on the clock when he beat Gudlevskis cleanly with a decent shot from the slot. His 5th of the year gave the Jackets a well-deserved dose of life, as they dominated the Lightning in that third period. Unfortunately for his team, that was as close as they would come. Brewer’s two late second period goals and stellar goaltending from the Latvian wonder sealed the deal on what would eventually become a 3-2 Lightning victory.
With only one regular season game left on the docket, the Bolts have a chance to do something special. Either a Montreal loss tomorrow or a Tampa win on Sunday would give the Lightning home ice advantage for round one of the playoffs. Considering all the adversity this team has dealt with in 2013-14 and the fact that the team finished at the bottom of the standings last year, it’s pretty remarkable stuff.
As always, thanks for reading.