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Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down: McElhinney Bounces Back

March 21, 2021, 7:11 PM ET [3 Comments]
Michael Stuart
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
It was sloppy, chippy, and eventful at times, but the Tampa Bay Lightning managed to seal the deal on a 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Sunday afternoon. With the standings at the top of the Central Division so condensed, the importance of a victory like this can’t be understated. Here are today’s thumbs:

Thumbs Up: Curtis McElhinney’s Bounce Back Performance
Three goals against on 32 shots may not look all that spectacular on the stat sheet, but McElhinney was more than deserving of his first star honours today. On the second half of a back-to-back, he delivered a performance that can only be classified as a bounce back from his recent form. He made numerous key stops at vital moments in this game, which allowed the Lightning to hang around long enough to emerge victorious. The saves ranged from routine to spectacular – but the common thread was that he was there to make them.

Thumbs Up: The Fourth Line Contributes Again
If they continue to produce like this, it won’t be fair to call them a “fourth line” anymore. Even though their underlying numbers were rather poor, the Mathieu Joseph, Ross Colton, and Pat Maroon trio did what you want a fourth line to do in a high-intensity game like this. They maintained their energy level, forechecked hard when they had the chance to do so, and managed to contribute on offence. Mathieu Joseph’s eighth (!) of the season came after that line’s speed and tenacity overwhelmed the Panthers defence on the forecheck; it ended up being a very important marker for the club.

Thumbs Up: Tyler Johnson’s Delivers
I’ve made this comment a number of times this season, and I’ll continue to make it as long as it’s relevant: Tyler Johnson has done a remarkable job of making the 30 teams that could have had him for free look positively foolish. He scored his seventh of the season today – a power play goal off a beautiful setup from Yanni Gourde – and generated five-on-five shot attempt and expected goal shares north of 50% (per Natural Stat Trick) in what was a very competitive hockey game.

Thumbs Down: Losing Ryan McDonagh to Injury
Ryan McDonagh left this game with a lower-body injury and didn’t return. While Tampa’s left-side defence is a whole lot stronger than its right-side defence, an injury to a player of McDonagh’s calibre hurts in a big way. Hopefully he is able to return to the lineup in relatively short order, because Tampa Bay just doesn’t have enough bodies in the system to competently replace those minutes.

Thumbs Up: The Gourde Line
Jon Cooper has elected to split up Blake Coleman, Yanni Gourde, and Barclay Goodrow a little bit recently, but today’s game proved that they can still make magic happen when put together. That line was phenomenal, and played a major role in the Lightning’s victory. In addition to being up to their usual tricks of driving play and limiting opposing chances, they combined for five points today.

Thumbs Up: The Entertainment Value
This is as good as the interstate rivalry between the Lightning and Panthers has been in a long, long time. Start circling games like this on your calendar.

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This game delivered everything anyone could have wanted. We’ll see if the Lightning can deliver something similar on Tuesday night against the Blackhawks.

As always, thanks for reading.
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