Lightning douse red-hot Flames, beat Calgary 6-3

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 14, 2016

A defensive mindset let to an offensive outburst for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Mired in an all-around slump with just one win in eight games, the Lightning had to find the right formula to extinguish a red-hot Calgary team riding a six-game winning streak.

The Lightning put it all together and skated away with a 6-3 victory at Saddledome on Wednesday to start a three-game trip through Western Canada. The victory was the first in regulation for Tampa Bay since Nov. 23 against Philadelphia.(See full game highlights below)

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Victor Hedman (three assists), Alex Killorn (two goals, assists) and Valtteri Filppula (three assists) all finished with three points while Brian Boyle finished with a pair of goals. Defenseman Braydon Coburn had his first goal in more than a year while Andrej Sustr added his first of the season as the Tampa Bay blue line combined for a five-point night.

Ben Bishop finished with 19 saves to pick up his ninth victory of the season.

With the Lightning missing their top two scorers – Nikita Kucherov was scratched with an undisclosed lower-body injury while captain Steven Stamkos remains out – Tampa Bay has struggled to be a consistent scoring team of late while also struggling to keep pucks out of the net, having allowed four or more goals in six of the past eight games.

So to get contributions from the blue line proved a big boost.

“I tell you what it does, it really lifts the guys on the bench because guys are really pulling for those guys,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “You can just tell, there’s just a weight off their shoulders because it makes them feel part of things. It was a total team effort tonight. You’re missing, (key offensive players), you need to get goals from somebody, and when you’re getting them from everybody, it was a confidence builder for us. It was really good to see.”

Tampa Bay fell behind once again early in the game after Joel Vermin was whistled for holding. That led to Troy Brouwer being left wide open at the top of the crease to tap in a pass from Sean Monahan at 3:06.

But instead of the heads dropping, the Lightning kept focused on their game and didn’t let anything slide despite allowing the first goal of the game for the 19th time this season and eighth time in the past nine games.

“You sit there and the puck goes into the net three minutes into the game, but there was one thing probably in our last couple of weeks here where our heads are down,” Cooper said. “But nobody batted an eye on that, and I thought that was big.”

That hard work put Tampa Bay on the power play when Filppula battled Dougie Hamilton, who got his stick up and drew a four-minute high-sticking call at 8:48. Boyle would score his first of the night, getting a deflection on a Hedman shot that was heading wide of the net but ended up inside the post to tie the game at 10:04 of the first period.

Boyle showed his nifty hands to put Tampa Bay in front, as Hedman sent a pass up ice to Boyle, who worked a give-and-go with Filppula and found an open seam before putting a deke on Chad Johnson before flipping a backhand in to the net at 13:42 for his sixth career multi-goal game and first since Oct. 12, 2015, at Boston.

For just the ninth time this season, the Lightning would carry a lead in to the second period and found a way to build on it.

Just 4:40 in to the second period, Coburn fired a slap shot from the top of the center point that found its way through traffic and in to the net for his first goal in 102 games, dating back to Oct. 23, 2015, at Winnipeg. Sustr would make it 4-1 late in the period on another play started by Hedman, who rushed the puck up the ice and then won it on a forecheck down low. Hedman found Filppula low along the boards who fed Sustr up high for a floating wrist shot for his first goal since April 5, 2016.

Killorn looked to turn it in to a rout in the third period, notching his second career shorthanded goal 37 seconds in to the third period, putting his own rebound past Brian Elliott, who replaced Johnson to start the final period.

But the Flames tried to storm back, scoring two goals in 21 seconds on a power play goal by T.J. Brodie at 3:59 while Michael Ferlund finished off a 2-on-1 with Matt Stajan at 4:20 after Coburn made an ill-timed pinch to set up the odd-man chance. Bishop then came up with the save of the game, stopping Sam Bennett on a partial breakaway that would have cut the lead to a goal.

“Ultimately you need your goalie to be there for you. And he was there for us tonight, there’s no question,” Cooper said. “Even when they got those bang-bang goals in the third, to come up with that save on Bennett, who knows what happens if that goes in. He didn’t have to make a ton of saves tonight, but he made the right one and that was big.”

Killorn would put the game out of reach with an empty net goal with 44.2 seconds left for his second of the night.

“I think when you lose eight out of 10 games, there has to be a desperation level,” Killorn said. “I think the coaches have done a good job keeping it somewhat loose but everyone knows how important games are. You see yourself in the standings and you keep falling, so we have to get right back on track and I think this was a good game starting in that direction.”

Postgame notes: RW Nikita Kucherov was scratched and is listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury. Kucherov did take part in the optional morning skate but did not participate in any drills … LW Ondrej Palat did not play in the third period. … D Nikita Nesterov and D Luke Witkowski were scratched. … It was a wild day on the transaction wire for the Lightning, who called up RW Cory Conacher in the morning and reassigned Witkowski to Syracuse of the American Hockey League. But by 5 p.m. EST, Witkowski had been called back up while RW Erik Condra, who took part in the morning skate, was assigned to Syracuse. D Victor Hedman appeared in his 500th career NHL game, picked up his 250th career point and tied a career high with three assists. … RW Ryan Callahan skated with the team in the morning, the first time he’s practiced with the team in any capacity since Dec. 7. … D Andrej Sustr scored his first goal of the season.

My three stars:

1. Lightning D Victor Hedman – Three assists, 28 minutes of ice time, 5 blocked shots

2. Lightning C Brian Boyle – Two goals, plus-2, 4 shots, 8-for-11 on faceoffs

3. Lightning LW Alex Killorn – Two goals, assist, six shots on goal

Full game highlights

Jon Cooper’s postgame comments

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