Tampa Bay Lightning eventually burn off the holiday hangover, rally for victory against Montreal

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 28, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – Mikhail Sergachev vs. Jonathan Drouin.

That was supposed to be the showdown on Thursday as the Lightning hosted Montreal for the first time this season, pitting the two players from last summer’s blockbuster trade between division rivals against each other for the first time this season.

The marquee matchup never materialized, however, as the game turned in to a goaltenders duel between Andrei Vasilevskiy and Carey Price while Tampa Bay’s marquee star stole the show as Steven Stamkos wound up with a pair of goals in a 3-1 victory on Thursday.

And Brayden Point, whose emergence last season perhaps made the trade of Drouin easier to absorb, wound up scoring his league-leading seventh game-winning goal all while matched up head-to-head against Drouin most of the night.

So here’s what we learned after yet another Lightning victory.

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STAMMER TIME: Rumors of the captain being nothing more than a playmaker nowadays are greatly exaggerated. Stamkos registered his third multi-goal game of the season to reach the 15-goal mark on the season, tying both Vladislav Namestnikov and Point for second on the team. Stamkos had just one goal in his previous seven games, but proved on Thursday he hasn’t lost his touch at all.

His first goal was set up by the hustle and creativeness of Nikita Kucherov, who outraced Karl Alzer to negate an icing call and deftly put a backhand pass right in to a the past of Stamkos, who pushed the puck against the grain and lifted it over the left shoulder of Price with 11.2 seconds left in the second period to make it a 1-1 game.

”I didn’t say a word,’’ said Stamkos, who finished with a season-high seven shots on goal. “I knew that he knew that he knew that I was there. That’s the thing with Kuch and the chemistry we have developed, we don’t have to draw attention to ourselves by yelling on the ice. We know where we are and great play by him.’’

On his second goal, a sort of busted play while on a two-man advantage, he quickly one-timed a pass by Namestnikov from the slot to open up a 3-1 lead as Tampa Bay scored their first 5-on-3 power play goal of the season.

ALWAYS ON POINT: While Drouin is an exceptional offensive talent, Point is an adept two-way player. As he has been all season long, Point and his linemates took on the opposing team’s top line. And just like has been the case throughout the season, Point’s line once again won the matchup.

Point held Drouin’s line in check, holding them without a point on the night. On top of that, it was on the opening shift of the third period that Point scored the game-winning goal against Drouin’s line, picking up a loose puck in front of the net and slipping a backhander under Price 30 seconds in to the period.

SWEATING OUT THE TURKEY: On The Opening Faceoff show I host on weekday games, I posed the question about how much the first game coming out of the three-day break for Christmas would affect the Lightning. Montreal played the night before in Carolina, getting that first game out of the way. Though Tampa Bay had a good, hard practice on Wednesday to try and get their legs under them, it’s not quite the same in regards to getting timing and feel for the game back.

That showed for good portions of the first period. Even as Tampa Bay appeared to have their legs, the passing was off and the Lightning looked a little sloppy at times controlling the puck.

”We gave up some chances in the first and I just walked in and said, that’s in, you got the Christmas break out of the way, got the first period out of the way,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said.

After that, Tampa Bay pretty much rid themselves of any sort of a hangover and started to get their game back on track. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch, but it was efficient. The Lightning maintained puck possession and didn’t allow the Canadiens much of an opportunity to establish time in the Lightning zone, with the only Montreal goal coming on a fluky deflection on the power play that hit the blocker of Vasilevskiy and bounced in off Brenden Gallagher.

”The second and third we didn’t really give up much,’’ Cooper said. “It was “just keep grinding boys, we are going to have to get some greasy ones’’, instead we got some really nice ones and that was enough.’’

POWER PLAY RELEASE: Tampa Bay’s power play has been the best in the league throughout the season. The play with the man advantage has been superb this season, but had hit it’s first little rough patch of the season after going 0-for in back-to-back games for the first time this season, including an 0-for-6 against Minnesota on Saturday. It looked like it would be another one of those nights as Tampa Bay misfired on the opening four power play chances of the game.

But it came through on the fifth opportunity of the night as Stamkos picked up his 10th power play goal of the season and you could almost feel a bit of relief as that goal ended an 0-for-15 stretch.

”Sometimes on the power play pucks are just going in for you and sometimes you are doing really well, doing all the right things and the puck is just not going in,’’ Cooper said. “That’s how we feel our power play has been. We were getting some pretty darn good looks, they were just not going in the net. So you know how that is, if you eventually keep doing that, eventually the tide is going to turn. It would have been tough to go 0-for-6 and 0-for-6 but they fixed that.’’

QUICK TURNAROUND: Tampa Bay has little time to bask in the victory as the Lightning turn right around and host Philadelphia, which played at Sunrise the night before, on Friday in a rare home back-to-back. Teams are certainly accustomed to playing on consecutive nights while on the road, but it’s a bit different at home.

”You get to sleep in your own bed, honestly it means something with the surroundings. The one big thing is you don’t have to jump on a plane. So there’s no bus to the aiport, there’s no plane ride, there is no delays or anything like that, you just get to go home and it’s another game. If there is an advantage, you have to say that’s about it.’’

Postgame notes: Tampa Bay was without D Anton Stralman who missed the game with an upper body injury. Stralman is not expected to play on Friday, but has not been ruled out for Sunday’s game at Columbus. … The Lightning have won eight consecutive games at home, on shy of tying the franchise record. … D Slater Koekkoek was a healthy scratch. … C Tyler Johnson has scored at least a point in every game he’s played in December. … G Andrei Vasilevskiy set a new career high with 24 victories. Vasilevskiy has allowed two or fewer goals in 12 of his last 17 starts. … RW Nikita Kucherov record his 286th career point to tie Fredrik Modin for eight on the all-time franchise scoring list.

My three stars:
1.Lightning C Steven Stamkos – Scored twice, seven shots on goal and 14 shot attempts

2.Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy – Finished with 31 saves for the victory

3.Lightning C Brayden Point – Game-winning goal, kept Drouin line off the scoresheet

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