Game: 6
Opponent: Buffalo
Did I watch Live?:
Nope
Why Not?:
Cubs playoff/Date with the Duchess
Did I watch on replay?:
Yup
Three Stars:
3. Ramus Ristolainen 2. Alex Killorn 1. Ben Bishop
Worst Play:
The entire first period
Thoughts:
The biggest
question coming into the game involved how the Lightning would play
with two of their defensemen on the sidelines. Victor Hedman (skull
bounced off the glass) is the heart and soul of the defense while
Nikita Nesterov (suspended) is proving to be an offensive spark.
Luckily for Tampa Bay, their replacements (Slater Koekkoek and
Andrej Sustr) played pretty well. And when they didn't they had Ben
Bishop to bail them out.
Bishop bounced
back from two straight losses with his strongest outing of the
season. Unlike in Dallas, the rebounds were limited and the ones that
he did allow didn't drift out into dangerous areas. The Lightning
needed him to be on his game as they were outplayed for all of the
first period and portions of the third by the Sabres. Despite the
lackluster/uninterested/lackadaisical/uninspired play the Lightning
managed to pull of the 2-1 win with goals by Vlad Namestnikov and
Alex Killorn (on the power play!).
Along with the
strong play by Bishop, the special teams were actually one of the
areas the Lightning were successful. They didn't score until their
fourth power play, but at least the first three didn't kill the
little momentum they had built up during the game. On the other
side, whatever tweaks they made to the penalty kill paid off as they
kept Buffalo off of the scoreboard while they had the man advantage.
With the win, Bishop surpasses Nikolai Khabibulin as the goaltender with the most wins in franchise history with 84. I guess that makes Bishop the best goalie in Tampa history, right? Or the goalie that's had the best teammates? Whatever it means, congratulations to Big Ben.
While the defense
was the question going into the game, after the game, the offense was
the story coming out. After watching his team generate just 3 shots
in the first period and score their only goal on a breakaway in the
second, Coach Cooper through his player's name in the blender and
mixed up the lines. The third period saw Stamkos skating with
Valterri Filppula and Ondrej Palat while Alex Killorn moved up to a
line with Tyler Johnson and Ryan Callahan. The third Triplet, Nikita
Kucherov found himself paired with Vlad Namestnikov and Cedric
Paquette.
Noticeably absent
from those line combinations was Johnathan Drouin. The second year
winger did not enjoy his best game of the season. He looked a little
tired and out of step for most of the game committing several
turnovers and taking a bad penalty in the second period. Perhaps a
little time on the bench will be a wake up call for him.
The Lightning have
a few days off before staring a road trip that takes them through the
Central Division with games against Nashville, Winnipeg, Chicago and
St. Louis. This will not be an easy trip as three of the four teams
sport winning records and the one that doesn't is the defending
Stanley Cup Champions. The Lightning cannot afford to play the 40
minute hockey games that they have been prone to through the first
two weeks of the season.
Jo or Johnny:
The Flames are
starting to actually play games so Gaudreau's games played are
starting to catch up. Unfortunately he's not scoring as he's been
shut out the last two times on the ice. Through five he has 5 points
(1 goal and 4 assists). Jonathan Drouin saw his 3-game point streak
snapped as he logged only 12 minutes of ice time – his lowest total
of the season. He still leads Gaudreau by one point (1 goal and 5
assists).
No comments:
Post a Comment