Tampa Bay Lightning show plenty of fight in comeback against Ottawa Senators

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 21, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

That includes Tampa Bay Lightning losses because after returning home from the desert following a gut-wrenching, last-second loss on Tuesday back to the friendly confines of Amalie Arena following a long day of travel across three time zones on Wednesday, the Lightning were right back in the win column.

Brayden Point had the deciding goal in a 4-3 shootout victory against the Ottawa Senators as Tampa Bay won for the eighth time in the past nine games.

But it wasn’t easy as the Lightning fought off any sort of jet lag and bucked the trend of teams who struggle returning home from an extended road trip even while never holding the lead in the game.

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Tampa Bay fell behind on three occasions in the game as Ottawa held leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 but found a way to pull even each time.

’’We kept going down and kept battling back and I really like that about group,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “You never how it’s going to turn out, but you just felt with the way we were playing that it was only going to be a matter of time and they got rewarded.’’

The Lightning earned the reward through some good old fashioned hard work. And the big boys came out to play.

Not all of Tampa Bay’s top players were significant factors on the scoresheet, but the impacts were significant.

Victor Hedman had just one assist, but was the best player on the ice with nine shots on goal and 12 total shot attempts in a team-high 27:58 of ice time. Steven Stamkos did not register a point, but was a plus-2 and had six shots on goal and 12 shot attempts and had the shootout clinching goal in the third round. Nikita Kucherov had two assists and was a plus-2 with seven shots on goals and 13 shot attempts.

Tampa Bay also got contributions from the third line as Alex Killorn had a goal and an assist for his fourth multi-point game of the season. Yanni Gourde picked up his 11th of the season with a key assist from Cory Conacher on the second goal of the game.

The Lightning shook off a bit of a slow start and steadily built up their game from the second period on, outshooting Ottawa 31-12 in the final two periods plus overtime.

”Second period, I thought we turned up the pace of the game and played a lot in their end,’’ Stamkos said. “Even when we were down, no panic. I thought it was a good game considering the fact that we’ve been on the road for so long. Let’s not kid ourselves, it was a tough travel day (Wednesday). To have that long flight back from Vegas and the time change to come out and play the way we did, I’m proud of the group.’’

The Lightning fell behind in the first period on a play that, were it soccer, would simply have been called an own goal. After Andrei Vasilevskiy robbed Bobby Ryan coming down the slot, Tampa Bay defenseman Dan Girardi tried to clear the puck to the corner but instead hit paring partner Braydon Coburn in the shin and deflected in to the Lightning net.

After a first period in which the Senators slowed Tampa Bay down through the neutral zone, the Lightning started to break through the trap and started to get the puck in deep, created chances and began to change the complexion of the game.

By the end of the middle frame, the Lightning had scored twice and had 18 shots on goal. Killorn scored just his second goal in 17 games on a double deflection from a shot by Kucherov that first hit Tyler Johnson – who was originally credited with the goal – and then Killorn. After Cody Ceci put Ottawa back in front with a four-on-four goal, Gourde tied things up again after Killorn had his shot go wide but caromed off the boards to Conacher, who pushed the puck in to the crease where Gourde quickly got a stick on it to push it in to the net.

After another power play goal against – the seventh in the past three games allowed by Tampa Bay – once again put Ottawa in front at 5:59 when Derrick Brassard got a deflection on Erik Karlsson’s shot, the Lightning once again pushed back and it came from the top line.

Kucherov fed a perfect cross-ice pass to an open Hedman, who was denied on a terrific save from Craig Anderson, but Vladislav Namestnikov, as he has done many times this season, came crashing the net and found the loose puck to pot the rebound and set a new career high with his 15th goal of the season at the 11:05 mark.

”We fall behind early in the third and time is staring to creep away, it was nice to see Vladdy’s line that has done it for us really all year,’’ Cooper said. “They had a really strong game against Vegas and again I thought they had a strong game again tonight and they got rewarded.’’

So, too, did the Lightning for putting in the extra effort, for digging down and casting aside the outside factors that might have pointed to this game – flying home after a long trip to face a team that was already in town waiting for them – to pull out the two points and win their sixth consecutive home game.

In what some might have considered a scheduled loss, the Lightning turned it in to another one for the win column.

”After what happened in Vegas (a last-second loss) and to fly back, it wasn’t like it was an hour and a half flight coming back, you are traveling three time zones so it’s a little worrisome,’’ Cooper said.

No worries, however, when your big guns are firing like they were on Thursday, it’s like a great equalizer capable of overcoming what the odds might suggest is a difficult task.

Postgame notes:. Nikita Kucherov reached the 50-point mark on Thursday in 34 games, the second fastest player to reach the 50-point plateau, bested only by Vinny Lecavalier, who did so in 33 games in 2007-08. Kucherov has four consecutive multi-point games and extended his scoring streak to six games. … Steven Stamkos improved to 2-for-2 in shootout attempts this season. … G Andrei Vasilevskiy appeared in his 188th game with Tampa Bay, tying Mike Smith for fourth on the franchise all-time list for goaltender. … Tampa Bay improved to 6-0-1 this season in the first home game following a road trip.

My three stars:
1.Lightning D Victor Hedman – Assist, plus-2, Nine shots on goal

2.Senators D Erik Karlsson – Dominant with the puck, assists, 30:37 of ice time

3. Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov Two assists, plus-2, Seven shots on goal

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