It is hard to really have a statement victory in your 9th game of the year, but the Tampa Bay Lightning certainly had that on Saturday night. The Bolts scored early and often against the defending Stanley Cup Champion, Pittsburgh Penguins. Tampa Bay scored 3 goals in both the 1st and 2nd period to hold a 6-0 lead before the final period even began. Nikita Kucherov led the way with 2 goals and Andrei Vasilevskiy was fantastic again in the 7-1 victory.
Tampa Bay was not wasting any time against the defending champs on Saturday night. Sidney Crosby picked up a penalty less than a minute into the game. Before the 2 minute threshold was crossed; Lightning struck. Nikita Kucherov continued his amazing start to the year with a power play goal assisted by Victor Hedman and Steven Stamkos. Immediately following the goal Crosby picked up a misconduct penalty that would keep him in the box for another 10 minutes. The Bolts had to fend off a Pittsburgh power play a few minutes later, but did so easily. The best chance even came on a Ryan Callahan breakaway, but there was 1 pass too many and tampa couldn’t get it past Niemi. The next time the Bolts were on the power play wouldn’t be much different than the first. This time it was Stamkos who got it past Niemi to double the lead. The last few seconds of the period were crazy ones. Andrei Vasilevskiy made a magician-like save to keep Pittsburgh off the board. The Lightning then added to their lead when Yanni Gourde lit the lamp with 0.2 seconds left on the clock.
Tampa Bay’s 2nd period started even quicker than the 1st. Brayden Point took his own rebound and got it past Niemi just 30 seconds into the frame. The Bolts didn’t slow down after that. Just prior to the 6 minute mark of the period, Anton Stralman scored his 1st goal of the year to make it 5-0. If you thought that was enough scoring for Tampa Bay, you would’ve been wrong. Very shortly after Kucherov’s 2nd of the night put the game even more out of hand at 6-0.
The game was out of reach before the 3rd period even got underway. Tampa Bay wouldn’t send the fans home though, without scoring the extra point. Mikhail Sergachev scored on the power play to make it 7-0 and push the dagger even further into the Penguins’ hearts. Pittsburgh added a power play goal in the final 2 minutes to avoid the shutout, but it was entirely too little, too late.
The Bolts will have a few days off before they head a little bit north. The Bolts will be in Raleigh Tuesday to take on the Carolina Hurricanes. The puck is scheduled to drop shortly after 7 pm with pregame coverage beginning at 6:30 on News Radio 970 WFLA.
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD
1. TBL - PPG - Kucherov - (Hedman, Stamkos) - 1:36
2. TBL - PPG - Stamkos - (Namestnikov, Kucherov) - 14:16
3. TBL - Gourde - (Coburn, Point) - 19:59
2ND PERIOD
1. TBL - Point - (Palat, Gourde) - 0:30
2. TBL - Stralman - (Sergachev) - 5:58
3. TBL - Kucherov - (Stamkos, Killorn) - 7:12
3RD PERIOD
1. TBL - PPG - Sergachev - (Stamkos, Namestnikov) - 10:32
2. PIT - PPG - Guentzel - (Rust, Letang) - 18:18
PENALTY SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD
1. PIT - Crosby - (Cross Checking) - 0:57
2. PIT - Crosby - (Game Misconduct) - 1:36
3. TBL - Palat - (Boarding) - 4:11
4. PIT - Letang - (Slashing) - 13:23
2ND PERIOD
1. PIT - McKegg - (Hooking) - 1:26
2. TBL - Coburn - (Hooking) - 12:44
3. PIT - Kessel - (Slashing) - 13:27
3RD PERIOD
1. PIT - Hornqvist - (Cross Checking) - 9:07
2. TBL - Callahan - (Slashing) - 11:27
3. TBL - Gourde - (Closing Hand On Puck) - 16:36
4. PIT - Reaves - (Cross Checking) - 19:37
5. TBL - Dotching - (Cross Checking) - 19:37
SHOTS ON GOAL
Tampa Bay - 32
Pittsburgh - 29