Bishop blanks Kings as Lightning roll, hoping this gets them on a roll

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
February 7, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – Tuesday was a big Five-Oh.

Not just the birthday for Lightning anthem singer Sonya Bryson, but the margin of victory for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Los Angeles Kings, matching their largest margin in a win on the season.

Ben Bishop stopped all 28 shots for his first shutout of the season, 19th of his career and first in the regular season since March 28, 2016.

”It’s nice. It’s been a while,’’ Bishop said. “I’ll definitely take it.’’

Nikita Kucherov scored twice, Vladislav Namestnikov had a pair of assists while Gabriel Dumont scored his first NHL goal since April 17, 2013, while he was with the Montreal Canadiens.

Jonathan Drouin added a goal an assist and Braydon Coburn scored his second of the season as Tampa Bay has won consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 20-22.

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In the crowded Eastern Conference standings, every point is needed for a Lightning team that remains tied for the last in the conference standings, yet sit just five points out of a playoff position and six out of the third spot in the Atlantic Division with 28 games remaining on the season.

”We need wins,’’ Drouin said. “When you win one, lose one, win one, lose one, you are not really getting points out of that. We’ve got two (consecutive wins) and now we want to make it three and four on the road (this weekend) and that’s what we need to get wins and the get on a roll here.’’

Coming off a shootout victory against Anaheim on Saturday, the Lightning needed to back that up with another similar effort against Los Angeles. For the most part, that was the case as Tampa Bay once again looked engaged in the game, a trend that has been apparent the past two games, but has been building for the past few weeks.

”I can’t say it’s just been two games because we won the past two games, I’m looking back to the start of the Western swing (on Jan. 16) and the guys have been engaged,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “Have we got the results we wanted? Have we played a full sixty minutes in every single game? We’ve had some hiccups along the way, we’ve had a little adversity that has hit in a couple of games. . . . but they are battling and you can see that. They’ve been rewarded here the past two games, which makes you feel good and feel good for them to get rewarded for it.
“It’s tough when you play well and don’t get points because it just puts pressure on you now, if you have a little bit of a hiccup and don’t get points and that’s what you need to scrape back in to it and we weren’t able to do that. Fortunately for us we have a strong game against Anaheim … we play strong after that and hopefully we keep building on that.’’

After holding the Ducks to 16 shots total on Saturday – just seven from the second period on – the Kings fired 19 shots on goal in the opening period on Tuesday. But Bishop looked more like the two-time Vezina Trophy finalist in the first period than the inconsistent netminder he’s been most of this season, turning aside everything the Kings threw his way.

That performance and a highlight-reel goal from Jonathan Drouin gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead heading in to the first intermission.

”Bish played extremely well in the first period when we needed him,’’ Cooper said. “To look up at the shot clock and see we’ve given up 19 shots . . . we felt extremely fortunate to come to the room with the lead. Clearly Ben Bishop had a big part of that.’’

From that point on, however, it was all Lightning.

Kucherov converted a breakaway, getting behind the defense to take a pin-point stretch pass from Namestnikov, to give Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead at the 6:55 mark of the middle period, his 20th goal of the season and third consecutive year he’s reached the 20-goal mark.

Another brilliant passing sequence saw Victor Hedman with a long outlet pass to J.T. Brown at the far blue line, allowing Brown to get in the zone clean along the right boards before setting up Dumont for a sweeping one-timer at 11:02 for a three-goal lead on his first NHL goal in nearly four years.

”He’s chipped in in so many ways,’’ Cooper said of Dumont. “His tenacious play is contagious, that’s what he’s brought and he’s found a way to not only get called up to get in the lineup but he’s stayed in the lineup. It’s just a tribute to his character and his work ethic. He’s a kid that wants to play in the NHL, wants to play for the Tampa Bay Lightning and he’s doing a heckuva job.’’

Kucherov gave Tampa Bay a four-goal lead at 18:18, redirecting a puck out of midair off a pass frm Namestnikov past Peter Budaj to all but put the game out of reach. By the time Coburn scored on a top-shelf, backhander off a rebound from a Drouin shot, the outcome had been decided as the Lightning held the Kings to just nine shots on goal over the final two periods in a complete-looking effort for the second consecutive game.

”Bish came through for us in the first period but once we settled in to the game a little bit in the second period we were kind of able to control the middle of the ice a little bit more,’’ Coburn said. “They weren’t coming through with ease. It’s a push that we have to keep up.
“That’s what we are going to need, we need to put stretches of games together, play high-quality hockey this time of the year because other teams are battling for the playoffs . . . so we have to make sure we are putting two, three, four, five, six games together at a time from here on out.’’

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Postgame notes: LW Alex Killorn was a surprise late scratch despite taking pregame warmups and line rushes. The team announced Killorn was injured and after the game head coach Jon Cooper said Killorn was not one-hundred percent and felt with two days off before the next game that Killorn was best suited to get the extra rest. … LW Ondrej Palat missed his second consecutive game with an undisclosed lower body injury but took part in the limited optional morning skate. … LW Michael Bournival missed his fifth consecutive game with an upper-body injury but skated for the third consecutive game without restriction. … Tampa Bay swept a season-series from the Kings for the first time since the 2001-02 season. …

My three stars:
1.Lightning G Ben Bishop – Stopped all 28 shots he faced, including 19 in the first period

2.Lighting RW Nikita Kucherov – Two goals, plus-2, five shots

3.Lightning LW Vladislav Namestnikov – Set up both Kucherov goals, plus-2, four hits

Post game reaction

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