Tampa Bay Lightning finish goal mine trip through California

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
November 12, 2017

California Dreamin’.

Tampa Bay not only survived the Golden Triangle, they thrived.

The Lightning’s 2-1 victory at Anaheim on Sunday led Tampa Bay to accomplish something only ever done one other time in franchise history.

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East Coast teams rarely make the trek West and return unscathed. But Tampa Bay did just that in sweeping all three games on the trip through California, beating San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim in succession, coming back home with all six points packed in their bags.

It marks just the second time in the 25 seasons that Tampa Bay has won all three games in California on the same trip. The only other time game in 1993-94, the first year of the Anaheim Ducks. (Note: Tampa Bay did not play all three teams on the same trip in the same season every year). Only in one other season, 1995-96, did the Lightning even point in all three contests in California.

And Tampa Bay did this trip in dominant fashion, winning all three games by a combined score of 12-4. This coming on a trip that included games against two of the top defensive teams in the league – San Jose and Los Angeles – and three of the top penalty killing teams in the league, recording a power play goal in each game on the trip.

”Coming through California is a tough trip. Everybody out East knows that,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “You’re hoping, is there any way you can get six points out of that. Obviously, we started the trip off right by taking those two, but this is a tough game (on Sunday). It’s a couple days in between. It’s an afternoon game. We’ve been on the road a week. We know we’re going home after this. I was really impressed with the guys’ focus trying to get this one tonight and they found a way.’’

Here’s what stood out in Sunday’s victory

*There’s plenty of skill, but sometimes you need the will: The Lightning’s top two lines receive plenty of accolades, and for good reason. There is plenty of skill to go around. But on Sunday, Tampa Bay’s offense had quite the time trying to solve Anaheim goaltender John Gibson (we’ll get to that in a minute), unable to score at even strength. That is until late in the game when Ryan Callahan got in on the forecheck behind the Anaheim, pressured the puck to create a turnover. Chris Kunitz would then find J.T. Brown, who made a subtle move to his left and fired a puck back to the right and found the top-right corner for the game-winning goal. It was Brown’s first goal of the season, and the result of the work put in by the fourth line.

“That line did an unreal job forechecking,’’ Cooper said. “You can’t underestimate what Kunitz and Callahan did. And then Brown put that one in. We kind of held on after that. They may not get the points other guys do, but they’ve had some big ones for us and that was a big one.’’

*Goalie vs goalie: It was not that long ago that John Gibson and Andrei Vasilevskiy were considered the top two goaltending prospects in the world not in the NHL. Gibson was drafted in the second round of the 2011 draft. Vasilevskiy was the 19th overall pick in the 2012 draft. Gibson worked his way up from the U.S. National Development program and the Ontario Hockey League and through the minors. Vasilevskiy led his KHL team to the league semifinals as a 19-year-old and had a brief layover in the American Hockey League before being elevated to the NHL.

Sunday was their first ever head-to-head meeting in the NHL the two did not disappoint. Gibson was fantastic, particularly in the opening two periods when the Lightning could have blown the game open. The Anaheim goaltender stopped all 17 shots he faced in the first period and all but one of the 12 in the second period, beaten only by a Vlad Namestnikov rebound on the power play. Gibson kept his team in the game.

In the third period, it was Vasilevskiy’s time to shine as the Tampa Bay goaltender, who only faced 14 shots in the first two periods, stopped 14 of the 15 he faced in the final period to allow his team the chance to find that go-ahead goal and then preserve the lead.

“It was definitely a goaltender duel tonight,’’ Cooper said. “Both of them played well. As I said, in probably the first two periods, he sat there for a lot of it and didn’t see a lot of work and then had to respond to the challenge in the third. That’s why he’s our guy back there. In those tight games when we just couldn’t get that two-goal lead, he was huge for us. It was big.’’

*Was it in? Little controversy in the third period as the Ducks appeared to have tied the game on Brandon Montour’s chance from the right circle while on the power play. Vasilevskiy at first glance appeared to make a miraculous save. The call on the ice was no goal, but a lengthy review ensued and it appeared the Vasilevskiy did get his glove on the puck, but it may have crossed the goal line. The available camera angles show the puck disappear in to the glove of Vasilevskiy, but the sight of the puck is lost. A split second later, the puck emerges near Vasilevskiy’s pad but it is not clear where exactly the puck came from. From my standpoint, I thought the play would be overturned and the goal would count as the puck, logically, was under his glove and presumably past the goal line.

But after review, the play was upheld and the goal was not awarded with the explanation from the league stating that video confirmed the puck never crossed the line. Both coaches were not surprised by the ruling.

“The one thing I thought, I thought it hit the back of the net,’’ Callahan said. “It kind of made that sound and it was actually his pads. Once I saw it hit his pads then looked at a bunch of angles and couldn’t tell.’’

“I think everybody in the building would say it appeared to be in, but you have to have definitive proof that the puck was in the net,’’ Anaheim head coach Randy Carlyle said. “That is the rule. Tonight was one of those nights it didn’t go for us.”

#HockeyOps explains "no goal" video review at 10:48 of the third period in the @TBLightning/@AnaheimDucks game. #TBLvsANAhttps://t.co/a4bxKtwqBh

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 13, 2017

* Top Six: Even on a night where the top two lines only produced one power play goal, they certainly had their chances. The line of Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Namestnikov did pick up the power play goal, but they also combined for 14 shots on goal and 23 shot attempts. The trio of Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat and Yanni Gourde didn’t find the board, but they did combine for nine shots on goal and 20 shot attempts.

And speaking of the top line, Stamkos and Kucherov continue to find themselves in rarefied air these days. With Kucherov’s assist, he joined Stamkos in reaching the 30-point mark on the season as the two continue to pace the league in that category. With each reaching 30 points prior to the 20th game of the season, they are just the third set of teammates to reach that feat in the past 21 years, according to Elias Sports Bureau, and first since 2005-06 when Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson did it with Ottawa while Simon Gagne and Peter Forsberg accomplished the feat with Philadelphia.

Postgame notes: C Cedric Paquette remains out of the lineup but could be ready to return on the upcoming three-game homestand. … D Slater Koekkoek and RW Gabriel Dumont were scratched. … Tampa Bay has nine players with at least 10 points, tied with Toronto for the most in the league. … The Lightning improved to 4-0-4 in the past eight trips to Honda Center. … Tampa Bay has allowed six goals in the last five trips to Anaheim. … RW Ryan Callahan returned to the lineup after missing Thursday’s game with an upper-body injury. He recorded his 100th point in a Lightning sweater.

My three stars:
1.Ducks G John Gibson – He was that good in stopping 35 shots in the loss

2.Lightning LW Vladislav Namestnikov – Power play goal, four shots on goal

3.Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov – Assist, 11 shot attempts in 23 minutes of ice time

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