Game: 18
Opponent: Calgary
Did I watch Live?: Yup
Three Stars: 3. Nikita
Kucherov 2. Sean
Monahan 1. Ben Bishop
Worst Play:
With this win, I'm going to say we skip this part today
Thoughts:
Well, that was a
bit of a relief, eh? Finally a win against a team other than
Buffalo. Ben Bishop breaks his five-game losing streak and the
Lightning find the back of the net three times (actually five) in a
3-1 win over the Calgary Flames.
I'm not going to
even worry about the fact that they only mustered three goals against
the most porous defense in the league, or that they were held to one
goal for most of the game even though they dominated large portions
of the game. Steven Stamkos scored. Tyler Johnson scored. And Ben
Bishop looked solid in net. What more could you want?
OK. So maybe I'll
dwell a bit on the fact that through the first 7 minutes of the game
they fired 18 shots in the general direction of former Lightning
goalie Kari Ramo. Of those 18, 8 made it though to the Calgary
goaltender, but none got past him. So it looked like more of the
same. A lot of offensive pressure but nothing to show for it.
For the 18th
time in 18 games the Lightning ended the first period without a lead.
That is a pretty amazing stat which I'm pretty sure is still true,
but I'm not going to look it up. If it's wrong, someone tell me so
in the comments.
The second period
got off to a much more productive start. Two minutes in, Brian Boyle
– that ol' sniper – put one past Ramo. I'm pretty sure he only
scored because the puck slipped past his stick when he initially
attempted to shoot it, and by the time he had gotten under control he
had changed the angle enough to throw Ramo off. Who cares...it
counted.
Which was nice,
because Steven Stamkos had put a puck into the net that didn't count.
In front of the crease he tried to kick the puck to his stick to tap
a puck into the open net. Unfortunately he missed his stick and it
went straight into the net. No goal.
Sam Bennett tied
it up a few minutes later and then the negative thoughts started to
enter. Would the Lightning be able to score another goal? Would Ben
Bishop smash everything in the locker room if he lost 2-1 again? Do
the Lightning even know they're allowed to score more than once in a
game?
And then good old
Steven Stamkos found himself alone in the right circle on the power
play. It wasn't the hardest shot he ever put on net, but it found its
way behind Ramo and into the net. Two goals in one game! A lead!
What an awesome way to play hockey.
Five minutes later the
Lightning scored a goal that reminded me of the way they played last
year. Dennis Wideman had a chance to clear the puck out of his own
zone, but had his pocket picked by Johnson. Kucherov picked up the
loose puck and passed it to Johnson. Johnson waited for Kucherov to
drift into the slot and passed him the puck, Kucherov (channeling his
inner Teddy Purcell) passed it back to Johnson, who despite being
shocked that the puck was back on his stick slid it into the gaping
net for the insurance goal.
My two favorite
moments of the goal are Matt Carle in front of the net doing his best
to not get involved and the fan with the “Beat Calgary” shirt.
Only because I know that shirt is over 10 years old and there is a
10% chance he bought the one I donated to a thrift shop a few years
ago.
A good win over a
bad team that hopefully springboards them into a winning streak. Oh
yeah, they also had an empty net goal called back because of an
offsides. So the argument could be made that they actually scored 5
goals.
Jo or Johnny:
In the first of
two head-to-head match-ups, both of our contestants were held off of
the score sheet. Gaudreau's line was the more aggressive and
generated more scoring opportunities. Drouin only played
nine-and-a-half minutes as he skated with JT Brown and Cedric
Paquette for most of the night. Johnny Hockey (I did enjoy the moment
Rick Peckham referred to him as just “Hockey”like it was his
actual last name) still leads 17 points to 6, but I feel a point
streak coming on for Mr. Drouin.
 |
| Alex Killorn always looks like he is trying to calculate the tax on a dinner bill in his head. Photo by Scott Audette/Getty |
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