A three goal offensive onslaught by the Tampa Bay Lightning was the difference as the Bolts win their seventh straight game on the second night of a back to back 5-2 over the Philadelphia Flyers in Philly.Without Victor Hedman (injury), Andrei Vasilevskiy (rest), and Brayden Point (healthy scratch), the Tampa Bay Lightning’s depth of an offensive attack was just enough in the first period alone for the Flyers to recover throughout the entirety of the contest.
Tampa Bay wasted little time lighting the lamp against a Flyers team who came into the game riding a 12-1-1 record in their last 14 games, and showed young goaltender Carter Hart the door in his third straight start in net for Philadelphia.Hart allowed three goals on only nine shots on goal by the Bolts only to find the bench as Brian Elliott took his place just over ten minutes into the first period.
Mikhail Sergachev got the Bolts on the board first throwing the puck at the net through traffic to make it 1-0 Tampa Bay.Mere minutes later Alex Killorn put Tampa Bay up by double digits as he cleaned up the mess in front of Hart to net his 100th career goal and make it 2-0 Bolts.J.T. Miller added to Tampa Bay’s lead in the first on a two-on-one break burying a wrister past Hart for a 3-0 lead and thus ending Hart’s night in net for Philly.
Following a scoreless second period, Philadelphia ended the shutout bid by backup goaltender Louie Domingue as Oskar Lindblom scored on a deflection right in front of Domingue to make it 3-1 Tampa Bay.However the Bolts would answer immediately as Yanni Gourde scored his 17th goal of the season elevating Tampa Bay’s lead back to three goals at 4-1.Travis Konency added another goal for Philadelphia late in the third, but the Flyers simply could not overcome the early three goal deficit as Tampa Bay moves to sweep the back to back on the road with wins over Columbus and Philadelphia.
Nikita Kucherov was held without a point for the first time in his last six games, as Steven Stamkos notched an assist.Louie Domingue finished the game with 28 saves.
The Tampa Bay Lightning will return to home ice and host the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night at Amalie Arena.Catch all the action on NewsRadio WFLA beginning with pre-game at 6:30pm and a 7:30pm face off.
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