Everyone loves home cooking. The Tampa Bay Lightning just haven’t had any of it in a long while. The Bolts finally returned home after an 8 game road trip on Thursday night to face the Vancouver Canucks. The Lightning got goals from 5 different players, including Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos. The Bolts held a 4-goal lead going to the final frame. Vancouver made a charge, but Victor Hedman scored a power play goal to secure the 5-2 victory.
A good portion of the opening period of play was uneventful. You could tell the teams had recently faced off with how they were able to stifle each other. The Lightning did a good job to thwart off a Vancouver power play before the halfway mark of the period, but other than that, were never in danger of giving up the lead. A heads up play then gave the Lightning the lead. Nikita Kucherov came to the net and when the puck went off a Canuck defender’s stick he was there to bury it into the back of the net. Vancouver committed a costly penalty in the closing seconds of the 1st to give the Lightning a man advantage to start the middle period.
That was the lone goal in the 1st period, but the Bolts took over in the 2nd. The Lightning started the period on the power play and Yanni Gourde cashed in to double the lead. The goals wouldn’t stop there. In his 1st game since being called up from Syracuse, Adam Erne reminded Lightning fans of his success with the club last year by making it 3-0. The Captain struck next. Steven Stamkos hammered the puck past Anders Nilsson to take a 4-0 lead into the final period of regulation.
The Lightning took their foot off the gas a bit in the 3rd and payed for it. The all star game MVP, Brock Boeser ended the shutout with a power play goal just over 6 minutes into the frame. That sparked the Canucks. Less than 5 minutes later Sven Baertschi scored to cut the lead to 2 goals. The Bolts were on their heels, but got the big play they needed to turn it around. The power play came through again as Victor Hedman scored to make it 5-2 and end any hopes of a Vancouver comeback.
The Bolts will be right back home on Saturday night. Tampa Bay will welcome Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, and the Los Angeles Kings to Amalie Arena. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m., but could be a little later as the Lightning will retire Vinny Lecavalier’s jersey before the game. You will hear it all on News Radio 970 WFLA.
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD
1. TBL - Kucherov - (Killorn, Hedman) - 14:34
2ND PERIOD
1. TBL - PPG - Gourde - (Johnson, Sergachev) - 1:38
2. TBL - Erne - (Sustr, Namestnikov) - 13:40
3. TBL - Stamkos - (Johnson, Gourde) - 17:14
3RD PERIOD
1. VAN - PPG - Boeser - (Edler, Sedin) - 6:28
2. VAN - Baertschi - (Horvat, Edler) - 10:55
3. TBL - PPG - Hedman - (Stamkos, Kucherov) - 16:21
PENALTY SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD
1. TBL - Johnson - (Slashing) - 6:33
2. VAN - Boeser - (Holding) - 19:50
2ND PERIOD
1. VAN - Hutton - (Roughing) - 7:15
3RD PERIOD
1. TBL - Girardi - (High Sticking) - 5:12
2. VAN - Virtanen - (Hooking) - 15:59
SHOTS ON GOAL
Tampa Bay - 36
Vancouver - 29