Tampa Bay Lightning pick up sensible victory in a season that’s made little sense

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
January 24, 2017

Very little makes sense in this Tampa Bay Lightning season.

It didn’t make sense that Tampa Bay entered Game No. 49 of the season sitting in last place in the Eastern Conference. It didn’t make sense that while sitting in 16th place in the conference, the Lightning still were within striking distance of a playoff spot.

So it only seemed fitting, in a season that has made little sense to this point, that Tampa Bay skated out of the United Center with a 5-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks, improving to 8-0-2 in the past 10 regular season meetings between the teams.

And the Lightning did it in a manner that no team has done to Chicago in more than three seasons.

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In the span of 30 seconds in the third period, the Lightning turned a potential season-killing loss into a potential season-saving victory. Tyler Johnson scored two goals 30 seconds apart in the third period to help erase a third-period deficit and hand Chicago a rare regulation loss when entering the third period with a lead.

Prior to Tuesday, the Blackhawks had been 78-0-5 in the regular season when holding a lead entering the third period since the start of the 2013-14 season.

”Well, we needed that,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “It was a 2-1 game going into the third, and we felt we were getting chances in the game, we just had to stick with it. What did we score, three goals in four minutes? That’ll take the life out of you. We kind of sucked the life out of the building a little bit.’’

It might have also given some much-needed life to a Lightning season already on life support. On a season-defining, six-game road trip, Tampa Bay had just one victory in the first four games which dropped the Lightning in to the conference basement. Facing Western Conference power Chicago – Tampa Bay’s foe in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final, though it felt hardly like a rematch heading in to the game – figured to just be another hammer on the nail to the coffin of the season.

But the third period proved to be pivotal for the Lightning and it started less than three minutes in to the third period. Brian Boyle, who scored the tying goal late in the first period, won a faceoff clean back to Nikita Nesterov, who stepped in to a shot and beat Corey Crawford to the inside of the far post at 2:47 to make it 2-2.

That’s when the combo of Alex Killorn and Johnson turned the tide on the game.

Killorn would collect a puck from Valtteri Filppula and entered the Chicago zone. As Tampa Bay changed lines behind him, Killorn slowed the play down and as Johnson overlapped him, Killorn left a drop pass for Johnson, who wheeled around Killorn in to open space at the right circle and ripped a shot past Crawford at 6:14.

On the very next shift, Killorn gloved down a puck off a rebound of his own shot, circled behind the net and left a nifty back pass for Johnson in front of the net at 6:44 for the two-goal lead.

”Johnny’s been playing hard, and for them to go in the net tonight was huge for us,’’ Cooper said. “We showed a lot of passion going to the net in the third. We played really fast. We just had a passion to go and win this game, and it was led by Tyler Johnson.’’

And in a season where Tampa Bay has had too many passengers on a nightly basis, there were plenty others driving the engine on Tuesday.

*Killorn, who had a terrific defensive one-on-one play to hold up Patrick Kane late in the third, finished with the two assists, five shots and three takeaways.

*Boyle had a goal and assist, five shots and won five-of-seven faceoffs.

*Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 34 saves, including 14 in the third period while his rebound control might have been the best it’s been all season. He even recorded his second career assist.

* Nikita Kucherov looked engaged for the first time on the road trip, putting himself in to scoring areas and finished with nine shot attempts, one of them an empty net goal to record his first goal since Jan. 12.

”This is desperation mode for us, and this was a winnable hockey game,’’ Cooper said. “We felt every one of these games on this trip has been winnable. And unfortunately, we only have two wins to show for it, but a lot of good things came from tonight. That’s a really good team over there. They can create. They’ve got skill. Big thing for me was, though, Vasilevskiy gave us a lot of life. He made us a little taller on the bench and kept us in the position to be able to come back like we did and that’s what you need from your goalie.’’

Now, the Lightning are a little taller in the standings, climbing out of the cellar with one more game remaining before the All-Star break, with the hope of trying to get on some sort of a run that would pull them back up the standings and in to playoff positions.

But good luck trying to make sense of that mess, too.

Postgame notes:..D Jason Garison missed his second consecutive game due to illness. But Garrison took part in Tuesday’s morning skate. … RW J.T. Brown returned to the lineup after missing seven games with a concussion. … D Jake Dotchin played in his second career game, logging 15:00 of ice time with four hits and two blocked shots. … D Luke WitkowskRW Erik Condra. … Tampa Bay’s four goals in the third tied the season high for most in a period, also done on Oct. 13 vs. Detroit. … Johnson recorded his third multi-goal game of the season and the 13th of his career. … The Lightning score more than three goals for the second consecutive game after scoring a combined four in the first three games of the trip. … Vasilevskiy recorded his first victory since New Year’s Eve to snap a personal six-game losing streak

My three stars:
1.Lightning LW Alex Killorn – Strong all night, two assists, five shots on goal

2.Lighting C Tyler Johnson – Two goals, plus-2

3.Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy – Finished with 34 saves, including 14 in the third period

Game highlights from NHL.com

Jon Cooper postgame comments

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